call off

verb

called off; calling off; calls off

transitive verb

1

: to draw away : divert

2

: cancel

Synonyms

• abstract
• detract
• distract
• divert
• throw off

Examples of call off in a Sentence

she was about to tell me the big news when her attention was called off by the arrival of another guest

called off the party after half of those invited couldn't make it

Recent Examples on the Web

Jane’s Addiction called off the remainder of the tour — which featured the band’s core lineup together for the first time in 14 years — following an onstage altercation between Navarro and singer Perry Farrell last week. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 18 Sep. 2024

Just this summer, NASA called off a spacewalk before the astronauts even left the ISS’s airlock, when Tracy Dyson’s spacesuit sprang a water leak. —Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2024

It’s led to some offshoots calling off heterosexual dating entirely, taking form as the more radical 4B movement in South Korea. —Chloe Berger, Fortune, 9 Sep. 2024

The appeals court said the existence or non-existence of an affair was not the only factor in the case; Johnson may still have had solid reasons to call off the engagement. —Julie Eich, CBS News, 6 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1606, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

call off

verb

1

: to draw away : divert

call off a dog

2

: cancel sense 2a

call off a meeting