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• speed dial
  speed dial

  noun

  a telephone feature by which telephone numbers can be stored in memory and rapidly dialed by pressing an assigned button.
• speed-dial
  speed-dial

  verb (used with object)

  to dial (a telephone number) using speed dial.

speed dial

¹ American  

noun

1. a telephone feature by which telephone numbers can be stored in memory and rapidly dialed by pressing an assigned button.

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speed-dial ² American  

[speed-dahy-uhl, -dahyl] / ˈspidˌdaɪ əl, -ˌdaɪl /

verb (used with object)

speed-dialed, speed-dialing, speed-dialled, speed-dialling

1. to dial (a telephone number) using speed dial.

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Etymology

Origin of speed dial¹

First recorded in 1980–85

Origin of speed-dial²

First recorded in 1980–85

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

speed dial speed-dial speed-dialed speed-dialing

It’s always helpful to have a trust-and-estate attorney on speed dial.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 27, 2026

He can arrange most music by streaming it on Spotify or Apple Music, but he also has the bulk of composers on speed dial to request their arrangements if need be.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026

Which is why you should have an arborist on speed dial.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026

But that also affirms her as a real person as opposed to a flattened personality, one who is inoffensive, a little twee and unbothered about being an amateur with A-list chefs on speed dial.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2025

Furious with himself, Harry spun his speed dial back to normal as play resumed.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

The photographs and video appear to show several bedrooms in the US Virgin Islands home, as well as a room with masks on a wall and a phone with names written on speed-dial buttons.

From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025

The time of Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis as speed-dial, panic-button appointments may finally have passed.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 30, 2019

A 75-year-old woodworker and an attorney in her 50s worked alongside, with personal cellphones wired into laptop computers to speed-dial phone numbers in search of noncommittal voters.

From Washington Times ● May 30, 2016

His name has appeared on the facades of New York’s buildings, at the top of its V.I.P. lists and in the gossip pages whose stewards he had on speed-dial.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2016

Alex sat at the table with his cell phone and punched the speed-dial for his dad.

From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers

I pulled out my flip phone, speed-dialed home and said, “Mom, you are not going believe what just happened….”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2024

The built-in telephone can be dialed in the conventional manner or, for frequently called numbers, "speed-dialed" with a touch of the screen.

From Time Magazine Archive

Turning off the motor so I could hear, I speed-dialed home to see if Mom knew anything.

From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings

Jake speed-dialed the FBI agents and whispered, “Go!” just as the Riverview team stepped onstage.

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

After a tumultuous morning during which US stock market indexes dropped and oil prices surged, the American president began speed-dialing reporters in an apparent effort to soothe nerves.

From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2026

Confidants say Trump is still speed-dialing people in the evenings, as he has done for decades.

From Reuters ● Aug. 4, 2017

This insta-narrative—about the snooping neighbor twitching the curtains and speed-dialing the cops every time the Meitiv kids wander a block from their home to pick flowers in the park—was irresistible.

From Slate ● Apr. 21, 2015

Meanwhile, all four of Clinton's top political aides were speed-dialing the Hill, sending and seeking reassurance.

From Time Magazine Archive

Mom offers in an overly hyper way, and she’s already speed-dialing my dad as she exits the bathroom.

From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen

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