telegram
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of telegram
Explanation
A telegram is a message sent by a telegraph, which is also called a wire. Over time, there have been many means of communicating, such as messenger pigeon, telephone, text message, letter, and email. Another is the telegram, which is a message sent by a telegraph. People often said a telegram was sent "by wire" because the sender and receiver of telegrams were connected by a wire. The electric telegraph has been around since the late 1800's. In the Civil War, important information was sent by telegram, which was the speediest means of communication.
Vocabulary lists containing telegram
Write On!: Graph and Gram
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Far and Away: Tele
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The Red Umbrella
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Kyiv is under a furious enemy attack,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram, urging residents to stay in shelters.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 2, 2026
Videos shared by Ukrainian emergency services on Telegram showed rescue workers and civilians carrying a woman out of an apartment building on a stretcher, her body covered in dust.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 2, 2026
A post on his Telegram account said he had been jailed for 11 days.
From Barron's • Jun. 29, 2026
The manufacturer, who communicates on encrypted messaging boards such as Telegram and Signal, charges $290 for 10 vials of compounded tirzepatide, which will last Awadalla about a year.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 23, 2026
“There’s going to be a pretty good horse race,” wrote the New York World Telegram, “until Seabiscuit flattens out like a rug at the sixteenth pole.”
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
