text message

American  

noun

• text messages
  plural

1. an electronic message sent over a cellular network from one cell phone to another by typing words, often in shortened form, as “l8t” for “late,” on the phone's numeric or QWERTY keypad.

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text message British  

noun

1. a written message sent by means of a mobile phone

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• text messages
  plural

Etymology

Origin of text message

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

text message

“The water plant is currently offline for an unknown reason,” read a mass text message sent to locals as an outside specialist drove to Braham to investigate the issue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

A week after the resumption of bombing, an anonymous X account that describes itself as “Iranian” posted that Iran had sent a text message to Vice President J.D.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

She also condemned the decision not to send a text message to all phones in the area.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

The company’s core offering is an AI agent that resolves customer queries end-to-end, across numerous channels—including live chat, email, WhatsApp, text message, phone, and Slack.

From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026

Last I heard from Dee was her abracadabra text message last Sunday, and I didn’t answer, because I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do now.

From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King