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
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telephoning
present participle
-
to speak to or summon (a person) by telephone.
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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
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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
-
telephonesimple
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telephonessimple
-
have telephonedperfect
-
has telephonedperfect
-
am telephoningprogressive
-
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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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:
Western Electric’s clear-cased Model 302 telephone enticed gawkers with an impressively complex system of wires and mechanisms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
When public prosecutors tapped telephone calls at Italian football giants Juventus in 2004, they were hunting for evidence of doping.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
“Presidents Putin and Trump do indeed always emphasize in their telephone conversations their readiness to hold another meeting over time, should the need arise,” Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
This is roughly analogous to me asserting that running headfirst into a telephone pole at a full sprint will not affect my health because I do not “intend” to concuss myself.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
No telephone, no register, just a lone piece of paper and a pencil.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
When the fire alerts sounded on telephones, "I thought everything was going to burn, the house and everything," she said at the sports hall, where they sat dozing and eating snacks.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
"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
By the early 20th century, typewriters and telephones were standard office equipment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 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
She doesn’t mean to be cruel, she doesn’t know she’s just relegated me to the dust heap along with crank telephones and whalebone stays.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Sheinbaum, who is opposed to unilateral military action on Mexican soil, quickly telephoned Trump.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
"Had he telephoned, I would have understood his arguments and accepted the decision," he writes.
From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2025
She telephoned famous anthropologist Louis Leakey out of the blue just hoping for some advice.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 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
When Mr. Popper telephoned the City Hall to see about a license for Captain Cook, the penguin did his best to disconnect the telephone by biting the green cord.
From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater
Blinken was telephoning world leaders in an effort to decide on a course of action, a State Department spokesman said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2023
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 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
“Mrs. Nwizu will soon stop telephoning to tell me she saw him there,” her mother said.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
