First recorded in 1950–55
How does yellow-pages compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Facebook didn’t buy yellow pages or local newspapers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
Marianne Joan Elliott-Said found her stage name, Poly Styrene, running her finger through the yellow pages, she says in an on-camera interview circa 1976.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2022
In the 1960s, he started to dine at Chinese restaurants listed on the local yellow pages.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2021
It was tied into the advertising it was doing in the yellow pages.
From The Verge ● Jun. 8, 2021
Every few days Mrs. Sen would open up the yellow pages, dial a number that she had ticked in the margin, and ask if there was any whole fish available.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
New York City’s telephone company in 1886 published the first Yellow Pages directory of business phone numbers—creating a nearly friction-free way for merchants and customers to find one another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 15, 2025
In the 90s, he built a website called Zip2 that functioned as an online Yellow Pages.
From Salon ● Feb. 11, 2025
He was inspired by seeing the starry sky, but the title came as he spotted the Yellow Pages across the room.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2024
There were photos stashed everywhere, many tucked into the stacks of Yellow Pages phone books in Wally’s bedroom closet, warped and stained from water damage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2024
While everyone else streamed out, he made his way to the secretary’s office and borrowed a copy of the Yellow Pages.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
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.
