burner phone

noun

: a prepaid cell phone that is not bound to a contract with a carrier (see carrier sense 7b) and is usually intended to be disposed of after use

She said he returned a short time later, got a lot of cash, then left again with the drugs and money after talking to an unidentified person on a burner phone.

—Kurt Helin

called also burner

Examples of burner phone in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Randolph filed a restraining order alleging that Underwood placed a tracking device on her car, sent harassing messages from burner phones and appeared at her home uninvited. —Peter White, Deadline, 19 Mar. 2026

At the time, several regional experts told me that top security and political figures inside the Iraqi Shiite militias and the Houthis were limiting their use of technology, using burner phones and spending minimal time online to prevent Israel from tracking them. —Sudarsan Raghavan, New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2026

The ad, released Wednesday, opens with a narrator asking what a burner phone, an expensive pen and a cash machine have in common. —Joseph Morton, Dallas Morning News, 11 Mar. 2026

The digital forensics room is analyzing evidence to identify criminals who hide behind burner phones and fake email accounts. —J.d. Miles, CBS News, 27 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1996, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for burner phone

• acetone
• anglophone
• baritone
• bourguignon
• buspirone
• chaperon
• chaperone
• cobblestone
• collarbone
• cornerstone
• cortisone
• dictaphone