telephone
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to speak to or summon (a person) by telephone.
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to send (a message) by telephone.
verb (used without object)
noun
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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
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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
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See telephone box
verb
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to call or talk to (a person) by telephone
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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
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telephonesimple
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telephonessimple
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have telephonedperfect
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has telephonedperfect
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am telephoningprogressive
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are telephoningprogressive
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is telephoningprogressive
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have been telephoningperfect progressive
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has been telephoningperfect progressive
Past
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telephonedsimple
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had telephonedperfect
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was telephoningprogressive
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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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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:
There is a lot of misinformation out there, and a lot of people are just running with it, kind of like a case of broken telephone.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
"Fedorov is an iPhone 16, Syrskyi is a telephone from the 1980s," military analyst and former intelligence officer Ivan Stupak told me.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Inside the box is an old rotary telephone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
As a teenager, he interned for Comcast, spending high school and college summers climbing telephone poles and selling cable subscriptions door to door.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
“We must find a telephone and warn her not to come home!”
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
"Do you know about the goddess phones?" she asked, sitting down in what she called her "throne" next to a collection of bejewelled old-fashioned telephones.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
So far, the French platform has not monetised carpooling in India, where people pay each other directly, often using the popular digital UPI mobile telephones payment systems.
From Barron's ● May 31, 2026
The 12-man company built structures for telephones and electrical equipment alongside train tracks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025
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
Like most private telephones ours had been disconnected early in the occupation.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Sheinbaum, who is opposed to unilateral military action on Mexican soil, quickly telephoned Trump.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
She telephoned famous anthropologist Louis Leakey out of the blue just hoping for some advice.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2025
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
She says that he telephoned her on 4 December.
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2024
“I’m sure I offered some help or assistance with the animal situation at Reston,” he recalled, when I telephoned him.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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
The Department for the Economy's careers service is also offering advice online or by telephoning 0300 200 7820.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2023
The brothers raced up to their high-rise office and tried telephoning her.
From New York Times ● Feb. 26, 2023
The Associated Press began telephoning the Monterey Park police and fire departments and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department shortly before the RMG News alert, and kept calling for nearly three hours.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 23, 2023
That much he had learned by telephoning the Reverend Mr. Post, who further discouraged him by declining to reveal his former clerk’s exact destination.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
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.
