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Office & Administration vocabulary · Scheduling & Calendars

Pencil in

Meaning in office & administration, with examples

phrasal verbCommon term

In office & administration, pencil in means: To add a meeting or appointment to a calendar provisionally, knowing that it may still change or need to be confirmed.

In Turkish: şimdilik takvime yazmak, geçici olarak planlamak, ön rezervasyon yapmak

How it is used

From the idea of writing in pencil so it can be rubbed out. Common in scheduling emails: "I've pencilled you in for Tuesday at 10", "Can we pencil in a call for next week?" Later you confirm it or move it. Spelled pencilled (UK) or penciled (US).

Example sentences

  1. I've pencilled in the supplier visit for the 18th; I'll confirm once I hear back from them.

  2. Can we pencil in Thursday afternoon and confirm on Monday?

Common collocations

  • pencil in a meeting
  • pencil someone in
  • pencilled in for
  • provisionally booked
  • calendarA record of a person's or team's meetings, appointments and events, usually kept in software that colleagues can see and add meetings to.
  • scheduleTo arrange for a meeting, call or task to happen at a particular date and time, and usually to add it to a calendar.
  • availabilityThe times when a person is free to meet or work, or the fact that a room, product or service can still be used or booked.
  • bookTo arrange and reserve something in advance, such as a meeting room, a flight, a hotel room, a table or a person's time.
  • time slotA fixed period of time in a schedule that is available for, or given to, a particular meeting, call, visit or activity.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Scheduling & Calendars

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