How to Use call-and-response in a Sentence

call-and-response

noun
  • Other howls join across the room now, an eerie call-and-response.
    — Sam Kestenbaum, Harper's Magazine, 21 June 2024
  • The lions start a call-and-response – thunder from their throats.
    — Sarah Matusek, Christian Science Monitor, 4 Apr. 2025
  • The twang of a banjo and the notes of a fiddle ride over scratchy percussion and call-and-response vocals.
    — Nikki Miller-Ka, AFAR Media, 30 Jan. 2026
  • The firefighter showed off his singing skills in a call-and-response style as the ladies finished the sentence to the song’s lyrics.
    — Gabrielle Rockson, PEOPLE, 22 Sep. 2025
  • Through singing, movement and playful call-and-response, kids help create songs live while grownups are invited to join the fun.
    — Melissa Grzybowski, Austin American Statesman, 27 Feb. 2026
  • This performance might be best served with a generous helping of call-and-response and a dash of theatrics.
    — Ada Tseng, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2023
  • These leaders play a central role in the masquerade by invoking call-and-response chants known as spellings.
    — Melissa Noel, Essence, 8 Sep. 2023
  • There's lip-syncing and dancing as the audience interacts with the film through call-and-response lines and the use of props.
    — Jennifer Borresen, USA Today, 25 Sep. 2025
  • The procedure that the hospital hopes to initiate is not the only call-and-response under threat here.
    — Lauren Oyler, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Attwell employs the call-and-response dynamic that’s been the domain of theatre and church from the very beginning.
    — Giovanni René Rodriguez, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024
  • Semira is adept at knowing when to interlace perfect concert call-and-response moments into their rhymes.
    — Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2024
  • Absent, too, was the usual call-and-response about what the student was seeking out of their interpretation.
    — Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 20 Nov. 2024
  • Danny Brown, an audience member, invited the crowd to rise to their feet for a call-and-response rally.
    — NBC News, 29 June 2023
  • Pop’s vocals add imperfect earthiness, grounding the album in what feels almost like blues call-and-response.
    — David Harris, SPIN, 16 June 2026
  • Often, there’s an uncomfortable silence before the second part of the call-and-response is uttered.
    — Ian Servantes, Footwear News, 11 Nov. 2025
  • The tone of the Wednesday evening session was mostly triumphant, packed with call-and-response exchanges and upbeat music.
    — Brittany Shammas, Washington Post, 24 Sep. 2023
  • His body sways, as if possessed by an otherworldly force, and his voice drums with a longing to connect with the audience for this call-and-response song.
    — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Apr. 2023
  • Advertisement Behind him, a group of men hoisted a bullhorn-wielding friend on their shoulders to lead a call-and-response.
    — Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024
  • Guests of SeaWorld San Diego joined staff with bubbles, call-and-response chants, and an impromptu wave.
    — Demicia Inman, VIBE.com, 3 Sep. 2019
  • Here, Flores indulged in an unusual call-and-response with the audience, who happily played along.
    — Christian Hertzog, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 July 2023
  • The brotherly call-and-response is so moving, especially from two guys who famously hated each other.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 28 Apr. 2025
  • Sting remained one of rock’s kings of call-and-response, leading several singalongs throughout Tuesday’s shows.
    — Gary Graff, Billboard, 18 Sep. 2024
  • Their call-and-response structure also helps play up their complementary tones while remaining true to the anthemic nature of power soca.
    — Kyle Denis, Billboard, 2 May 2024
  • There’s a Light By 1980, ticket buyers were doing the time warp, again, at call-and-response screenings.
    — Joe Lynch, Billboard, 13 Oct. 2025
  • The church hummed with energy as the gathering engaged in call-and-response heard just about any Sunday in Baptist churches.
    — Miami Herald, 14 Apr. 2026
  • The little four-note melodic scraps tumble over each other ceaselessly in a call-and-response that scrambles your sense of which end is transmission and which is reception.
    — Jayson Greene, Pitchfork, 16 June 2026
  • The campaign has been responsive to what is trending day to day on the platform, creating a kind of call-and-response between itself and Harris fans.
    — Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2024
  • Before fights, the star talent leads fans in call-and-response chants, working in an idiom that’s equal parts Muhammad Ali, boom-bap rap and Zen koan.
    — Giri Nathan, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2023
  • Only the best guitarists can make their guitar talk, and White was having entire call-and-response conversations with his instrument on stage.
    — Mars Salazar, Austin American-Statesman, 15 Nov. 2024
  • What exactly is that otherworldly lead bridging into the song’s midpoint and bookending its call-and-response outro?
    — Billie Bugara, Pitchfork, 7 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'call-and-response.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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