walkie-talkie
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of walkie-talkie
Explanation
A walkie-talkie is a wireless, handheld transceiver that allows two-way communication using radio signals. Walkie-talkies are perfect for communicating in remote places where there's no cellphone signal. With a pair of walkie-talkies, you and a friend can hold a conversation, both sending and receiving signals over a radio channel. The earliest walkie-talkies were used by the military, starting in the 1930s. Designed to be portable and lightweight, the first version was called a "handy-talkie," with the original official walkie-talkie put to wide use by the U.S. during World War II. These simple, quick, two-way communication devices are still popular today on work crews and in wilderness areas far from cell towers. They can also be fun for kids to play with.
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:
The Chinese require a formal diplomatic note, submitted well in advance, for every firearm and walkie-talkie the U.S. wishes to bring in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
On Sunday, McCullum was seen sending messages via walkie-talkie to the England players during drinks breaks as they squeezed home against Nepal in a last-ball nail-biter in Mumbai.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
One of her colleagues raised the alarm over a walkie-talkie and then "we finished evacuating the visits without quite realising really what was going on".
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2025
“If he’s grabbing the walkie-talkie, it’s something important.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2025
“There’s flashlights on the eighth floor,” he reported to Liddy by walkie-talkie.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
At that time, Suu Kyi faced a series of charges ranging from violating Covid restrictions and illegally importing communications equipment such as walkie-talkies, to voter fraud and corruption, all of which she denied.
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
Sales of walkie-talkies from Russia’s main online retailer have risen 73% in the past month, according to business newspaper Kommersant.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
Fuad Farhat, 55, from the area's Bab Touma district, was supervising the deployment of several unarmed, black-clad Christian men with walkie-talkies in front of the churches.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
They had parked in the back of the facility, and they had walkie-talkies.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2025
She tells me we’ll have walkie-talkies so that she’ll be able to communicate with me in the light booth if anything needs to be adjusted—because, she says casually, I’ll also be running sound.
From "Sparrow" by Sarah Moon
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.
