telephone
Americannoun
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telephones
plural
verb (used with object)
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telephones,
present (3rd person singular)
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telephoned,
past participle, past
-
telephoning
present participle
-
to speak to or summon (a person) by telephone.
-
to send (a message) by telephone.
verb (used without object)
-
telephones,
present (3rd person singular)
-
telephoned,
past participle, past
-
telephoning
present participle
noun
-
-
Also called: telephone set. an electrical device for transmitting speech, consisting of a microphone and receiver mounted on a handset
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( as modifier )
a telephone receiver
-
-
-
a worldwide system of communications using telephones. The microphone in one telephone converts sound waves into electrical signals that are transmitted along a telephone wire or by radio to one or more distant sets, the receivers of which reconvert the incoming signal into the original sound
-
( as modifier )
a telephone exchange
a telephone call
-
-
See telephone box
verb
-
to call or talk to (a person) by telephone
-
to transmit (a recorded message, radio or television programme, or other information) by telephone, using special transmitting and receiving equipment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
telephonesimple
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telephonessimple
-
have telephonedperfect
-
has telephonedperfect
-
am telephoningprogressive
-
are telephoningprogressive
-
is telephoningprogressive
-
have been telephoningperfect progressive
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has been telephoningperfect progressive
Past
-
telephonedsimple
-
had telephonedperfect
-
was telephoningprogressive
-
were telephoningprogressive
-
had been telephoningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of telephone
Explanation
A telephone is an electronic device that you use for conversations over great distances. Telephones used to be fixed to walls and connected by cables, but now most people have cellular telephones, known as cell phones or mobiles. A telephone takes sound waves, converts it into electronic signals, and then converts that back into sound waves — pretty neat. Early telephones frightened people because it seemed spooky that someone not in the room (or even the country) could speak to you, but nowadays distant communication seems perfectly normal. If your mother asks you to telephone her, she wants you to give her a call. The word comes from the Greek words for "afar" (tele-) and "voice"(phone).
Vocabulary lists containing telephone
Common Senses: Phon ("Sound")
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The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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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.
See Examples For:
Western Electric’s clear-cased Model 302 telephone enticed gawkers with an impressively complex system of wires and mechanisms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Jeanne de Montagnac, 29, stood by her husband and two-year-old daughter, perched on his shoulders with a telephone number scribbled in biro pen on her arm.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
“Presidents Putin and Trump do indeed always emphasize in their telephone conversations their readiness to hold another meeting over time, should the need arise,” Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
This is roughly analogous to me asserting that running headfirst into a telephone pole at a full sprint will not affect my health because I do not “intend” to concuss myself.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
“But it was more than a telephone call. It was the past coming after me. The past won’t end because the past isn’t finished.”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
When the fire alerts sounded on telephones, "I thought everything was going to burn, the house and everything," she said at the sports hall, where they sat dozing and eating snacks.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
Pakistan has so far walked the tightrope between Iran and the US, passing messages between the two sides, hosting foreign ministers from other concerned Muslim nations and hitting the diplomatic telephones.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
By the early 20th century, typewriters and telephones were standard office equipment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
The U.S. government broke up AT&T in 1982 because a company owning phone lines and telephones was anticompetitive.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 19, 2025
No one in this age of telephones and motorcars could believe that giants seven or eight feet high existed in crowded Surrey.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Sheinbaum, who is opposed to unilateral military action on Mexican soil, quickly telephoned Trump.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Kawther describes an agonising wait on the day the children were due to arrive until finally Unicef telephoned.
From BBC ● Jan. 1, 2025
At some point in the ’70s or ’80s, Kauffman said, his brother telephoned him for a brief chat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024
According to testimony from a former agriculture official, Menendez telephoned one day to order him to stand down in his efforts to oppose the monopoly.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
She telephoned her husband and said to him, “Karl, you’d better come quick to the lab. Fred has looked at a specimen, and he’s got worms.”
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
In her book, Harris recounts the hours after Biden’s sudden withdrawal, when she began telephoning top Democrats around the country to lock in their support.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2025
The Department for the Economy's careers service is also offering advice online or by telephoning 0300 200 7820.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2023
One of them, a tax attorney named Gordon, was coaxed onto stage for the purpose of publicly telephoning his wife.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 24, 2023
The Associated Press began telephoning the Monterey Park police and fire departments and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department shortly before the RMG News alert, and kept calling for nearly three hours.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 23, 2023
When Malcolm X reached home in Long Island, one of his followers, telephoning him there, got, instead, a telephone company operator who said that the OL 1-6320 number was “disconnected.”
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
