CALLBACK Definition & Meaning

callback

or call-back

[ kawl-bak ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

an act of calling back.
a summoning of workers back to work after a layoff.
a summoning of an employee back to work after working hours, as for emergency business.
a request to a performer who has auditioned for a role, booking, or the like to return for another audition.
recall ( def 12 ).
a return telephone call.
an allusion to a joke made earlier in the same comedy act or show:
The kitten yelling “Quiet!” at the end was a callback to earlier in the episode when the two normally silent brothers shouted it.

adjective

of or relating to a return telephone call:
Please leave a callback number.

verb phrase

to telephone (a person) who has called earlier:
Our staff will call you back within 24 hours.
to summon or bring back; recall:
He called back the messenger.
The actor was called back for a second audition.
to revoke; retract:
to call back an accusation.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of callback¹

First recorded in 1925–30; noun use of verb phrase call back

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

That number dances right on the line of how much inequality talk this tonally insecure remake can take — especially when its modern money concerns clash with its callbacks to Walt’s beloved whimsy.

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The Tarantino callback isn’t the only surprise in the video—"Fast & Furious" star Tyrese Gibson also makes an appearance.

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Some of Trump's name choices are callbacks to America's expansionist age, when the prevailing ideology said that America had a God-given mission to expand from shore to shore.

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To obtain a check, a property owner should email their name, address and a callback number to altadenahomecheck@lasd.org.

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When it came time for the final callback in Rome, I just kept thinking, “Don’t overdo it, just do what you did.”

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