telephone
Americannoun
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telephones
plural
verb (used with object)
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telephones,
present (3rd person singular)
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telephoned,
past participle, past
-
telephoning
present participle
-
to speak to or summon (a person) by telephone.
-
to send (a message) by telephone.
verb (used without object)
-
telephones,
present (3rd person singular)
-
telephoned,
past participle, past
-
telephoning
present participle
noun
-
-
Also called: telephone set. an electrical device for transmitting speech, consisting of a microphone and receiver mounted on a handset
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( as modifier )
a telephone receiver
-
-
-
a worldwide system of communications using telephones. The microphone in one telephone converts sound waves into electrical signals that are transmitted along a telephone wire or by radio to one or more distant sets, the receivers of which reconvert the incoming signal into the original sound
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( as modifier )
a telephone exchange
a telephone call
-
-
See telephone box
verb
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to call or talk to (a person) by telephone
-
to transmit (a recorded message, radio or television programme, or other information) by telephone, using special transmitting and receiving equipment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
telephonesimple
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telephonessimple
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have telephonedperfect
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has telephonedperfect
-
am telephoningprogressive
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are telephoningprogressive
-
is telephoningprogressive
-
have been telephoningperfect progressive
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has been telephoningperfect progressive
Past
-
telephonedsimple
-
had telephonedperfect
-
was telephoningprogressive
-
were telephoningprogressive
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had been telephoningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of telephone
Explanation
A telephone is an electronic device that you use for conversations over great distances. Telephones used to be fixed to walls and connected by cables, but now most people have cellular telephones, known as cell phones or mobiles. A telephone takes sound waves, converts it into electronic signals, and then converts that back into sound waves — pretty neat. Early telephones frightened people because it seemed spooky that someone not in the room (or even the country) could speak to you, but nowadays distant communication seems perfectly normal. If your mother asks you to telephone her, she wants you to give her a call. The word comes from the Greek words for "afar" (tele-) and "voice"(phone).
Vocabulary lists containing telephone
Common Senses: Phon ("Sound")
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The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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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:
In August alone, some 40 locomotives were attacked across Ukraine, Pertsovsky told AFP in a telephone interview.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
The following day, the girls exchanged telephone numbers and addresses and promised to keep in touch.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
She added that she found the form long and difficult to fill in and the telephone call as "really cold".
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Canada doesn’t have its own telephone country code.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
I never dreamed that she’d telephone them to announce my arrival.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
At the heart of Britain's coin factory, old Bank of England telephones are stripped down and dipped into giant vats to recover a hidden treasure: the gold in their circuits.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
You may think you are a book publisher or a soap maker or a dealer in vintage telephones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Pakistan has so far walked the tightrope between Iran and the US, passing messages between the two sides, hosting foreign ministers from other concerned Muslim nations and hitting the diplomatic telephones.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
The U.S. government broke up AT&T in 1982 because a company owning phone lines and telephones was anticompetitive.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 19, 2025
The command room itself, ninety steps farther down, was relatively undamaged: a large oval room with maps on the walls, desks, telephones, and a bank of computers.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
Sheinbaum, who is opposed to unilateral military action on Mexican soil, quickly telephoned Trump.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
O2 Virgin Media confirmed the scammer telephoned its call centre requesting a new sim and had hacked Stephen's emails.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2025
At some point in the ’70s or ’80s, Kauffman said, his brother telephoned him for a brief chat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024
According to testimony from a former agriculture official, Menendez telephoned one day to order him to stand down in his efforts to oppose the monopoly.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
“I’ll post his father a check in the morning. He telephoned too. Neal Brose's father, I mean. He apologized to me, actually.”
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
In her book, Harris recounts the hours after Biden’s sudden withdrawal, when she began telephoning top Democrats around the country to lock in their support.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2025
One of them, a tax attorney named Gordon, was coaxed onto stage for the purpose of publicly telephoning his wife.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 24, 2023
The Department for the Economy's careers service is also operating an extended service on Thursday and Friday online or by telephoning 0300 200 7820.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2022
Biden addressed the nation after telephoning Floyd’s family following the verdict, telling them, “We’re all so relieved.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 20, 2021
He also often spent up to twelve hours a day in his third-floor office constantly telephoning various parts of the town, county, state, and nation.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
