AAAmerican Accent US

call off

Separable

The object can go before or after the particle — but a pronoun MUST go in the middle: “clean it up”, never “clean up it”.

How to say it

Stress the particle, not the verb: call OFF. Saying “CALL off” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.

Link across the gap. The final /l/ of “call” moves onto the particle and starts its syllable: “call off” is said “ca-loff”. Pausing between the words is what makes phrasal verbs sound recited rather than spoken.

What it means

  1. To cancel a planned event.

    • “The football game was called off because of the rain.”
    • “They called the wedding off three weeks beforehand.”

    Similar: cancel, scrap

Don’t confuse it with

call outTo shout in order to attract attention.

Call OFF cancels an event. Call OUT means to shout, or to publicly criticize someone.

The particle logic

off

Contact is broken: something detaches, leaves, or stops.

Listen + practice

Hear “call off” spoken naturally

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More CALL phrasal verbs

Compare the whole family →

call back

To return someone's phone call.

call up

To telephone someone.

call on

To ask someone to speak or to act.

call in

To summon a professional for help.

call out

To shout in order to attract attention.

call for

To require or demand something.

call off — meaning, examples & how to say it