telegraph
Americannoun
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telegraphs
plural
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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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telegraphs,
present (3rd person singular)
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telegraphed,
past participle, past
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telegraphing
present participle
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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)
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telegraphs,
present (3rd person singular)
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telegraphed,
past participle, past
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telegraphing
present participle
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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Our Town
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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:
It’s big, too, nearly 10 miles long, and peaky, with some squat concrete buildings up at the crest of one of the hills, and a single telegraph pole.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Stone said during the Carrington Event, "even telegraph wires were heard to hum and crackle, and they were able to run the telegraph poles without any electricity because the input was so high".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Tracing its origins back to a telegraph company established in 1847, Siemens makes trains, industrial software, and medical and industrial machinery as well as electrical equipment.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh told Wall Street in June to stop relying on the central bank to telegraph its every move in advance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
And if that wasn’t enough, paying ten dollars a month to somebody to tell you how to lose it fast, that either dont know anything about it or is in cahoots with the telegraph company.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
The song telegraphs Charli’s genre switch from electronic pop to the titular rock music, announcing, “I think the dance floor is dead” over heavily distorted guitar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
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
He telegraphs a coded message back to Washington, stating that investigators have questioned local smugglers and learned that Booth and Herold have gone across the Potomac River.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
Illustrations—where details are telegraphed and nothing is left to chance—are designed for immediate emotional access.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Though Le Fee telegraphed his effort, Raya had to be at full stretch to tip it on to the post.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
The university telegraphed Dartmouth and stated that they were forfeiting the game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
The action, which Boeing and regulators had telegraphed in recent weeks, sent Boeing shares sharply higher.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
In vain Amy telegraphed the word ‘talk’, tried to draw her out, and administered covert pokes with her foot.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Warsh made it clear he wants a more tight-lipped central bank, one that isn’t telegraphing the Fed’s plans for interest rates in advance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 26, 2026
When the fracas became public, Gabbard decided to litigate it on X and go personal on the whistleblower, inadvertently telegraphing her weak position.
From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2026
On the weekly chart, Amazon has a history of telegraphing meaningful turns through classic candlestick patterns.
From Barron's ● Feb. 23, 2026
When the app became popular earlier this year, officials said it would jeopardize agents’ safety by telegraphing their locations to the public.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
Writers often resist telegraphing their point at the outset.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
