phone book

American  

noun

• phone books
  plural

1. telephone book.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• phone books
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of phone book

First recorded in 1900–05

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

phone book

Many of those listed in the phone book were doctors, so our reporter began booking medical appointments with some of them as a way to meet them.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

For the internet to become what we think of as the internet, you also needed people like Paul Mockapetris, who created the domain name system that is known as the phone book of the internet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026

Rooney and his friend Dave Woodman, a fellow animator, met Caselotti after finding her information in the phone book.

From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2025

It’s astounding that Apple failed to realize that audiences will watch George Clooney and Brad Pitt read the phone book, so long as they do it together, and truncated “Wolfs’” stay in theaters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2025

"Amber is second in the phone book under Private Investigators; maybe Joe Aaron’s phone was busy that day. Anyhow, Barney Northrup wanted me to investigate six people."

From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin

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Related Words

• directory
• telephone book
• yellow pages

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