Meaning & use
incoming call
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A phone or video call that someone else is making to you and that you can answer or ignore.
Grammar: Has a plural: incoming calls. Often followed by from: an incoming call from my boss.
Patterns
- an incoming call from someone
- answer an incoming call
I saw an incoming call from my mother and stepped outside to answer.
The phone buzzed with an incoming call during the meeting.
She declined the incoming call because she did not recognize the number.
nouncountablebusiness
A call coming into a business, switchboard or emergency center, as opposed to one made from it.
Grammar: Often plural in business use: the office handles many incoming calls.
Patterns
- handle incoming calls
- route incoming calls
The help desk handles about two hundred incoming calls a day.
Incoming calls are forwarded to the on-duty manager after six.
The system records all incoming calls for quality checks.
Word forms
| plural | incoming calls |
|---|
Common combinations
- answer an incoming call
- Swipe right to answer an incoming call.
- block incoming calls
- The setting lets you block incoming calls at night.
- screen incoming calls
- He screens incoming calls when he is working.
- forward incoming calls
- We forward incoming calls to the mobile line.
- receive an incoming call
- I received an incoming call from an unknown number.
- decline an incoming call
- She declined the incoming call and kept driving.
Synonyms and how they differ
- inbound call
- Inbound call is the preferred term in call centers and business, and sounds slightly more technical.
- received call
- Received call refers to one already answered, while incoming call may still be ringing.
- ring
- Ring is the British informal word for a call, but it does not stress the direction.
- phone call
- Phone call is the general term and does not show whether the call comes to you or goes from you.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: incoming call or missed call?
incoming call vs missed call
A missed call is one you did not answer, while an incoming call is one that is arriving or that you received.
Practice
Your phone shows a message that says Incoming call. What is happening?
Choose one answer.
An incoming call is arriving to you. An outgoing call is one you make.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incoming call”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.