call in

Meaning

In a professional context, 'call in' means to phone your office or place of work to report something (most commonly to 'call in sick'). It can also mean to summon or request the help of an expert or specialist to handle a specific problem.

Examples

• If you are feeling unwell, you need to call in sick before nine in the morning.

  If you are feeling unwell, you need to call in sick before nine in the morning.

• The project got so complicated that we had to call in a team of IT specialists.

  The project got so complicated that we had to call in a team of IT specialists.

• She had to call in to the office to check if there were any urgent messages.

  She had to call in to the office to check if there were any urgent messages.

• The manager decided to call in extra staff to handle the holiday rush.

  The manager decided to call in extra staff to handle the holiday rush.

• I need to call in and let them know I will be late for the meeting.

  I need to call in and let them know I will be late for the meeting.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I called in sick to my boss.

  ✓ I called in sick.

  'Call in sick' is an idiomatic intransitive phrasal verb meaning you notified your workplace. You do not call in sick 'to' a person; you call in to a place, or simply say 'I called in sick' or 'I called my boss to say I was sick'.

• ✗ We should call in for an expert.

  ✓ We should call in an expert.

  When summoning or requesting the presence of someone, 'call in' does not require the preposition 'for' before the object.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Since she had a high fever, Sarah had to ___ sick this morning.

  💡 report absence by phone

  Show answer

  call in

• When the pipes burst, we had to ___ a plumber immediately.

  💡 summon or invite to help

  Show answer

  call in