callback

American

[kawl-bak] / ˈkɔlˌbæk /

Or call-back

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.
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.

Etymology

Origin of callback

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Even the wrap is a callback to a pre-public-offering Sweetgreen, which offered wraps when it was a small chain in the Washington, D.C., area.

From Barron's

A small, almost comical callback to the smoothie that started it all.

From Salon

The fate of the world is never in question, but a callback for a second audition means everything.

From Los Angeles Times

Several family members were killed, but Hind managed to answer a callback from the helpers at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

From BBC

Critics have cautioned that callback wait times can be over an hour.

From MarketWatch

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023