Dictionary

phone in en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive) To deliver a message by telephone when etiquette demands the effort and respect conveyed by communication in person.
   • Please give us the courtesy of showing up instead of phoning in.
   • Please give us the courtesy of delivering it in person instead of phoning it in.
2. (intransitive) To make a telephone call to a broadcasting station, especially to participate in a program being aired.
   • We've got Brian phoning in from Phoenix. Brian, you're on the air.
   • I've been trying to phone in to your program for the last half hour.
3. (ambitransitive, figuratively, idiomatic) To fulfill a responsibility with a minimum effort rather than the appropriate level of effort.
   • We're sick of Alice's attitude. She's been phoning it in ever since Bob left. [pronoun antecedent: notional: either "her job" or undefined]
   • He thought he could phone it in. [pronoun antecedent: the scheduling process]
   • his new show with Julia Child -- "Julia and Jacques Cooking At Home" on WMPT Channel 22 -- is a clever marketing stroke, but at times both of these veteran teachers seem to be phoning it in. 2000 April 26, Candy Sagon, “All Talk, No Cooking”, in Washington Post:
   • And I think our campaign put a lot more on the line, frankly, to try to solve that problem than Senator Obama, who tried to phone it in. 2008 October 6, “Getting Offensive; How Will Voters Respond?”, in ABC GMA:
   • phone it in
   • He thought he could phone in the scheduling process, but it takes sharp negotiations around here.
   • But here was someone who could have been paid regally for just phoning it in for another year or two willing instead to throw that all away 1998 January 12, “It's All About Timing”, in TIME:
4. (transitive) To make an unseemly, timid performance; to be restrained and timid when bold action is called for.

Forms

Coordinates

cut corners · drop in · call up · show up · shortchange · come over · stop in · underdo · stop by · drop by · skimp · come by · slack off · half-ass

Deriveds

phone-in

Synonyms

call in · call in · mail it in

Translations (17)

th โฟนอิน (to call a broadcasting station) · fi arastella (to make a timid performance) · cmn 致電 /致电 (deliver a message by telephone) · cmn 畏首畏尾 (to make a timid performance) · cmn 應付差事 /应付差事 (to fulfill a responsibility with a minimum effort) · cmn 畏縮不前 /畏缩不前 (to make a timid performance) · pt colocar pouco esforço em algo (to fulfill a responsibility with a minimum effort) · fr bâcler (to fulfill a responsibility with a minimum effort) · cmn 叩應 /叩应 (to call a broadcasting station) · cmn 打電話參與 /打电话参与 (to call a broadcasting station) · fi soittaa (jollekin) (deliver a message by telephone) · cmn 敷衍了事 (to fulfill a responsibility with a minimum effort) · fi tehdä rimaa hipoen (jotakin) (to fulfill a responsibility with a minimum effort) · fr faire le service minimum (to fulfill a responsibility with a minimum effort) · fi tehdä vasemmalla kädellä (jotakin) (to fulfill a responsibility with a minimum effort) · fi soittaa ohjelmaan (to call a broadcasting station) · sv ringa in (to call a broadcasting station)