telegraph
Americannoun
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an apparatus, system, or process for transmitting messages or signals to a distant place, especially by means of an electric device consisting essentially of a sending instrument and a distant receiving instrument connected by a conducting wire or other communications channel.
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Nautical. an apparatus, usually mechanical, for transmitting and receiving orders between the bridge of a ship and the engine room or some other part of the engineering department.
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a message sent by telegraph; a telegram.
verb (used with object)
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to transmit or send (a message) by telegraph.
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to send a message to (a person) by telegraph.
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Informal. to divulge or indicate unwittingly (one's intention, next offensive move, etc.), as to an opponent or to an audience; broadcast.
The fighter telegraphed his punch and his opponent was able to parry it. If you act nervous too early in the scene, you'll telegraph the character's guilt.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a device, system, or process by which information can be transmitted over a distance, esp using radio signals or coded electrical signals sent along a transmission line connected to a transmitting and a receiving instrument
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( as modifier )
telegraph pole
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a message transmitted by such a device, system, or process; telegram
verb
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to send a telegram to (a person or place); wire
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(tr) to transmit or send by telegraph
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informal (tr) boxing to prepare to deliver (a punch) so obviously that one's opponent has ample time to avoid it
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(tr) to give advance notice of (anything), esp unintentionally
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informal (tr) to cast (votes) illegally by impersonating registered voters
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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telegraphsimple
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telegraphssimple
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have telegraphedperfect
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has telegraphedperfect
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am telegraphingprogressive
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are telegraphingprogressive
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is telegraphingprogressive
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have been telegraphingperfect progressive
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has been telegraphingperfect progressive
Past
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telegraphedsimple
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had telegraphedperfect
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was telegraphingprogressive
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were telegraphingprogressive
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had been telegraphingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of telegraph
< French télégraphe (1792) a kind of manual signaling device; see tele- 1, -graph
Explanation
Forget about the internet! Before even the telephone was invented, the telegraph — a device used to communicate via electronic signals — was the main mode of communicating long distance. We've come a long way! The telegraph is an outdated form of communication as far as sending long-distance messages goes. It uses an electric signal broken to create a code that then transmits over a wire and translates into a message. Alexander Graham Bell started tinkering with the telegraph and ended up inventing the first "harmonic telegraph" to transmit sound through a wire — which led to the birth of the modern telephone.
Vocabulary lists containing telegraph
Write On!: Graph and Gram
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The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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Journalism
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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:
Eight million people showed up to see the fair, which featured Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone and Thomas Edison’s telegraph, a fitting tribute to American innovation.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
To start with, Ukraine relied on a network of mobile phones fitted on to telegraph poles to listen out for the sound of approaching drones.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
The Powell Fed, in short, offered an unprecedented level of what academics refer to as forward guidance, or indications of any sort that telegraph the likely path of short-term interest rates.
From Barron's ● May 17, 2026
The fair also showcased Thomas Edison’s automatic telegraph, as well as machinery such as the typewriter and calculator and consumer-packaged goods such as Heinz tomato ketchup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
Alexander Graham Bell, working on development of a talking telegraph, got essential patents toward his efforts in 1876 and 1877, the year he and partners started the Bell Telephone Company.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Experts say the FAA’s shifting approach telegraphs a disquieting truth about air safety as private companies increasingly push to use the skies as their laboratories: Regulators are learning as they go.
From Salon ● Jan. 12, 2026
He celebrated the wave of innovations that had enriched human existence—railroads, steamships, telegraphs, telephones, electric lights, anesthetics, antiseptics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
It telegraphs that Abigail is no barbaric horror fiend but instead a sophisticated aesthete, which makes her both scarier and funnier.
From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2024
Technology was always state-of-the-art, from the early days of telegraphs to telephones and beyond, he writes.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
The one who telegraphs his punch and misses with his other arm down and leaves himself open.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
With Phillips resuming on 49, England telegraphed their plan and Phillips was happy to take on the short ball.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Moving-average crossovers aren’t meant to provide trading signals, as they are well telegraphed.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 31, 2026
The administration also telegraphed that Mexico was in its sights.
From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2026
But England were 11 points adrift with just 26 minutes left, when Matt Fagerson's charge down of Ford's somewhat telegraphed drop-goal attempt paved the way for Scotland centre Huw Jones' second try of the match.
From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026
And then right in front of her, the thing happened, the coordination failed, the hands fumbled, the muscles panicked, the nerves telegraphed to a dead operator, the responses did not come back.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
King is a natural fit for a chairman skeptical of telegraphing the Fed’s next move, but only up to a point.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
When the VIX peaked around 90 during the 2008-09 financial crisis, telegraphing extreme fear that the financial system might collapse, stock buyers were rewarded.
From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026
For now, the bond market is telegraphing that “the Fed’s current interest-rate trajectory under Fed Chair Jerome Powell is the correct way to manage risks.”
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 30, 2026
But we’re living in a moment where fast food is doing a strange kind of double duty — not just feeding us, but telegraphing tribal affiliations.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2025
“No, but just like telegraphing is different from one person to another, handwriting is too. See here?”
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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.
