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
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
Hundreds of these “quantum” science videos claim that quantum cosmology allows humans to literally teleport between different realities or communicate telepathically with their past and future selves.
From Slate • Oct. 20, 2022
Friends will teleport together to attend church, concerts and 3D exercise classes in far-flung corners of the world.
From Washington Post • Sep. 14, 2022
England, it seems, but did he just teleport here mid-monologue?
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
