area code

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noun

a three-digit code that identifies one of the telephone areas into which the U.S. and certain other countries are divided and that precedes the local telephone number when dialing a call between areas.

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Origin of area code

First recorded in 1960–65

Words nearby area code

arduous, are, area, Area 51, area bombing, area code, areal, areal velocity, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, area opaca, area pellucida

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use area code in a sentence

The cost of extended long-distance calls mostly limited users to those living within the bulletin board system’s area code.
How The Early Internet Created A Place For Trans Youth To Find One Another And Explore Coming Out|LGBTQ-Editor|May 27, 2021|No Straight News
The caller will see a local number with the same area code as the business.
Google testing new ‘call history’ feature for Google My Business|Greg Sterling|October 7, 2020|Search Engine Land
Historically the reelection rate for members of Congress is in the area of 95 percent.
The Unbearable Whiteness of Congress|Dean Obeidallah|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The benefits of incumbency are quite potent, especially in the all-important area of raising campaign funds.
The Unbearable Whiteness of Congress|Dean Obeidallah|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST

As he drove me back to the logging road, Frank told me about the area in his deep voice.
The 7-Year-Old Plane Crash Survivor’s Brutal Journey Through the Woods|James Higdon|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
His neighbors include some of the other designer outposts one finds speckled around the area.
The Photographer Who Gave Up Manhattan for Marrakech|Liza Foreman|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Based on a true story” is film code for “this may or may not have happened, but almost certainly not in this way.
Wrestler Mark Schultz Hates the ‘Sickening and Insulting Lies’ of ‘Foxcatcher’|Rich Goldstein|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
By their agreement with the owner, the Company have the right of mining under an area of 185 acres, at a royalty of 6d.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
If you did fail, you would try Exclusion, and you would find nothing which is the antithesis of the area of New York.
Assimilative Memory|Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)
The total area of land purchased for the carrying-out of the scheme is put at 215,317 square yds.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
That with the increased area of the pallet is why the lower notes of the organ were so hard to play.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building|George Laing Miller
It is no part of the present essay to attempt to detail the particulars of a code of social legislation.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock

British Dictionary definitions for area code

area code

noun

a number prefixed to an individual telephone number: used in making long-distance calls

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012