Meaning & use
a swatting call
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableinformal
a false emergency call made to send police or SWAT officers to someone's home as a prank or threat
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a swatting call' or 'several swatting calls'.
Patterns
- make a swatting call
- a swatting call to someone
- be a victim of a swatting call
The online streamer was the target of a swatting call that brought armed police to his house.
Police warn that making a swatting call is a serious crime and can lead to charges.
A swatting call can put innocent people in great danger.
Word forms
| plural | swatting calls |
|---|
Common combinations
- make a swatting call
- He was arrested for making a swatting call against a fellow gamer.
- target of a swatting call
- She became the target of a swatting call after a dispute online.
- swatting call incident
- The swatting call incident prompted a review of police response procedures.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hoax call
- A hoax call is any false emergency call, while a swatting call specifically aims to send a SWAT team or armed police to a person's address.
Word family
Commonly confused: a swatting call or swatting?
a swatting call vs swatting
Swatting is the act itself; a swatting call is the specific phone call made during that act.
Practice
What is a swatting call?
Choose one answer.
A swatting call is a prank or threat where someone falsely reports an emergency to get armed police to respond to a victim's address. The other options are unrelated.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a swatting call”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.