ask for

phrasal verb

asked for; asking for; asks for

: to request to see or talk to (someone)

Unhappy with the service, he asked for the store manager.

There's someone on the phone asking for you.

Examples of ask for in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Columbia University did not respond to a specific request asking for clarity on the number of students in disciplinary proceedings. —

Sanya Mansoor, TIME, 17 May 2024 The girl was able to text authorities asking for help and describe enough landmarks for police to find her. —

Kerry Breen, CBS News, 17 May 2024 The first video Castor posted that took off was her playing a character asking for a love story book recommendation. —

Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 17 May 2024 Customers come to the restaurant and ask for Kane by name, said Missy Johnson, second assistant manager. —

Mary Divine, Twin Cities, 17 May 2024 Quite obviously, this is not the time to ask for permission or approval from a parent or an older family member. —

Georgia Nicols, The Denver Post, 17 May 2024 As the first state to bar trans students from participating in sports in 2020, Idaho has since expanded its limitations to trans medical care and the accommodations trans people ask for in the public sphere. —

Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 16 May 2024 Thank you for being the best daddy and husband a girl could ask for. —

Meg Walters, Peoplemag, 16 May 2024 That’s the question Broadway has been asking for the past three years, as the theater industry emerged from lockdown into a harsh new reality of rising costs and slow-to-return audiences. —

Gordon Cox, Variety, 15 May 2024

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