teleport
1 Americanverb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of teleport1
1950–55; back formation from teleportation, equivalent to tele- 1 + (trans)portation
Origin of teleport2
Explanation
To teleport is to disappear and then reappear at a different place. If you’re waiting in line in the freezing cold, you probably wish you could teleport yourself inside to the concert. Unfortunately, we can’t really teleport yet. On Star Trek and in other science fiction, people teleport all the time. They are zapped, then they disappear and then reappear somewhere else, like on a different planet. If you could teleport, you wouldn't have to drive a car, fly in a plane, or even walk anywhere: you could simply teleport there. The word is made up of tele, which is Greek for “distance,” and French portare for “carry.”
Vocabulary lists containing teleport
Far and Away: Tele
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Science Fiction Lingo
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My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich
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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.
We may not be able to teleport, either physically or via hologram, but we can Zoom or video chat with pretty much anyone anywhere.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026
“It’s as if you teleport yourself to the answer, but you have no idea how you got there,” he says.
From Slate • Aug. 15, 2023
The founder of the Michigan-based technology company Aperture Science, he’s invented a portal gun that allows people to teleport to various locations.
From Science Magazine • Jan. 19, 2023
Infants as young as three months know that a ball no longer in sight still exists and that the ball can’t teleport from behind the couch to the top of the refrigerator.
From Scientific American • Jul. 11, 2022
If I could teleport, I could be there within minutes.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
