walkie-talkie
Americannoun
-
walkie-talkies
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of walkie-talkie
Explanation
A walkie-talkie is a wireless, handheld transceiver that allows two-way communication using radio signals. Walkie-talkies are perfect for communicating in remote places where there's no cellphone signal. With a pair of walkie-talkies, you and a friend can hold a conversation, both sending and receiving signals over a radio channel. The earliest walkie-talkies were used by the military, starting in the 1930s. Designed to be portable and lightweight, the first version was called a "handy-talkie," with the original official walkie-talkie put to wide use by the U.S. during World War II. These simple, quick, two-way communication devices are still popular today on work crews and in wilderness areas far from cell towers. They can also be fun for kids to play with.
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:
She remembers: “I had a walkie-talkie, I would hand per diems out to people, I would run the envelopes around, and bring my dad a towel after the show, stuff like that.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
The Chinese require a formal diplomatic note, submitted well in advance, for every firearm and walkie-talkie the U.S. wishes to bring in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
"I went to a Jewish school. My children went to the same Jewish school I did. You know, every parent there does security -- you stand outside the school with a walkie-talkie," he told AFP.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
Lebanon strongly condemned the pager and walkie-talkie attacks, while the UN's human rights chief, Volker Turk, said they had left him "appalled".
From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2024
He pulled to the curb and stuck the antenna of his walkie-talkie out the car window.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
The cameras zoom in on small figures of soldiers moving around the ruins, with the controllers directing the men on the ground through walkie-talkies, callsigns and headsets.
From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026
Long-range walkie-talkies let the driver communicate with kids who have, for obvious reasons, decided to hide under the bed with them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Fuad Farhat, 55, from the area's Bab Touma district, was supervising the deployment of several unarmed, black-clad Christian men with walkie-talkies in front of the churches.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
They had parked in the back of the facility, and they had walkie-talkies.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2025
He was tempted to contact Liddy to see how things were going, but the walkie-talkies were to be used only in case of emergency.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
