call waiting

American

noun

a telephone service feature whereby a person engaged in a telephone call is notified by a tone that a second call is being made to the same number, and is able to talk to either party while keeping the other on hold.

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.

If we were lucky, we had call waiting.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2023

First Direct also had the shortest average call waiting time of 16 seconds.

From BBC • May 23, 2022

His home phone has no call waiting and no way to leave a message.

From Washington Post • May 19, 2020

The advent around the same time of call waiting similarly made human agency a deciding factor in whether you were available to talk.

From Slate • Sep. 18, 2016

She holds the line until she is tempted to hang up, wondering all the while if her husband is trying to reach her from home, regretting not having call waiting.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023