call down

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Definition
  1. Verb:
    • To reprimand or scold someone severely: To express strong disapproval or criticism of someone's behavior, often angrily or harshly.
    • To invoke or summon something, often as if by magic: To call upon or bring into existence, typically referring to spirits, forces, or abstract consequences.
Examples of Usage

  • Verb (Reprimand): The teacher had to call down the student for repeatedly disrupting the class.The manager called down the employee for the serious error in the report.

  • Verb (Invoke/Summon): The old tale spoke of a witch who could call down storms upon her enemies.His reckless actions could call down serious legal consequences.

Advanced Usage
  • "to call down a curse/blessing": to invoke a supernatural curse or blessing upon someone or something.
  • "to call down fire and brimstone": (idiomatic) to prophesy or invoke severe punishment or destruction, often in a religious or rhetorical context.
Variants and Related Words
  • Calling down (gerund/noun form): The act of reprimanding or invoking.
  • Called down (past tense/participle).
Synonyms
  • Reprimand: To scold or rebuke formally.
  • Chastise: To criticize severely.
  • Conjure: To summon a spirit or image as if by magic.
  • Invoke: To call on (a deity or spirit) in prayer or as a witness, or to cite as an authority.
Related Phrasal Verbs
  • Call out: To criticize or challenge someone publicly. (Note: This is a distinct phrasal verb with a related but different meaning).
  • Call for: To require or demand.
Related Idioms
  • Call down the thunder: To invite or provoke a powerful, often negative, response or conflict.
  • Call heaven to witness: A formal phrase meaning to invoke divine authority, related to the "summon" sense.
Verb
  1. censure severely or angrily
    • The mother scolded the child for entering a stranger's car
    • The deputy ragged the Prime Minister
    • The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing cold soup
  2. summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic
    • raise the specter of unemployment
    • he conjured wild birds in the air
    • call down the spirits from the mountain

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