name call

A form of name-call — Synonym of call names (“to use (offensive or derogatory names, labels, or insults) against (someone), typically to demean or attack them verbally”).

Meanings

verbname call (third-person singular simple present name calls, present participle name calling, simple past and past participle name called)

present singular third person name calls · participle present name calling · participle past name called · past name called

  1. alternativeAlternative form of name-call.

    For many of us, the realization that people in power, regardless of political party, would belittle, name call and seek retribution has been a shock.

    2025 April 11, Carol Burton, “What We Believed About America”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2025
    2 more examples

    Mr. Nixon attacked Mr. [Hubert] Humphrey with gusto, sounding to an unusual degree like Mr. Humphrey attacking Mr. Nixon. He said he knew his opponents were in trouble because “you know politicians are behind when they start to name call, when they start to panic, to hit below the belt.”

    1968 October 18, R[aymond] W[alter] Apple Jr., “[Richard] Nixon Again Backs a Bombing Pause if It Costs No Lives”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

    She even drew a response from the creators of “The Simpsons,” who made a short video in which Marge [Simpson] scolds Ms. Ellis, saying, “I teach my children not to name call, Jenna.”

    2020 December 3, Jeremy W. Peters, Alan Feuer, “How Is [Donald] Trump’s Lawyer Jenna Ellis ‘Elite Strike Force’ Material?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2020
Cite this entry
APA

name call. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/name%20call

MLA

“name call.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/name%20call. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “name call,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/name%20call.

Source: name call on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.