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yellow pages
yellow pagesplural nouna classified telephone directory or section of a directory, listing subscribers by the type of business or service they offer, usually printed on yellow paper.
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Yellow Pages
Yellow Pagesplural nouna classified telephone directory, often printed on yellow paper, that lists subscribers by the business or service provided
yellow pages
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of yellow pages
First recorded in 1950–55
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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:
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
The old dry leather went up with a whoosh, and the yellow pages stirred as they burned, as if some ghost were reading them.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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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
I would have had to consult the Yellow Pages, or more likely, call Information — something my parents frowned upon because of the toll.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2024
I wouldn't give up, so looked in the Yellow Pages and came across the Prince's Trust.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2022
Or maybe looked it up in an outdated Yellow Pages phonebook they found in the back closet.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 16, 2022
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
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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.