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• phone-in
  phone-in

  noun

  call in.
• phone in
  phone in

  verb

  (intr) to make a telephone call to deliver information (esp to a broadcasting studio or place of work)

phone-in

American  

[fohn-in] / ˈfoʊnˌɪn /

noun

1. call in.

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phone-in ¹ British  

noun

1. 1. a radio or television programme in which listeners' or viewers' questions, comments, etc, are telephoned to the studio and broadcast live

   2. ( as modifier )

      a phone-in discussion

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phone in ² British  

verb

1. (intr) to make a telephone call to deliver information (esp to a broadcasting studio or place of work)

2. slang (tr) to deliver (a performance) in a perfunctory manner

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Etymology

Origin of phone-in

First recorded in 1965–70; noun, adj. use of verb phrase phone in

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

phone-in phone in

She later appeared in the Sport, but said she was often given the worst jobs including once working on the paper's phone-in lines.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

Take Nigel Farage, leader of the populist party Reform UK, who has known Trump for close to a decade, hosted him on his phone-in radio show and visited him in the Oval Office.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026

It was as the morning interview and phone-in show host on LBC from 1976 that he properly began to make a name for himself.

From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2025

In the early 1990s, Hayes hosted BBC Radio 2's breakfast show for a year - ultimately being replaced by Terry Wogan - then moved to the Sony Award-winning weekly phone-in, Hayes Over Britain.

From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2025

The Runcorn and Helsby MP apologised for her remarks, which were made during a TalkTV phone-in on Saturday, saying they were "phrased poorly" but maintained that many adverts were "unrepresentative of British society".

From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2025

Won’t you be able to see who or what pinged you when you pick up the phone in a few minutes any way out of habit?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The areas where such work is performed do not allow cell phones, so the most convenient thing to do is to leave your phone in the car.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

There was desperation in the voice of the young Ethiopian man when he managed to get through to the BBC from a phone in his prison cell on death row in Saudi Arabia.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

So my wife and I built our wind phone in Joshua Tree, in honor of our kids.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

“Okay, Joe,” he whispered, as if he could talk to the unknown person he’d heard his mother argue with on the phone in the middle of the night, right before she went away.

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix