megaphone

1 of 2

noun

mega·​phone ˈme-gə-ˌfōn How to pronounce megaphone (audio)
: a cone-shaped device used to intensify or direct the voice
megaphonic adjective

megaphone

2 of 2

verb

megaphoned; megaphoning; megaphones

transitive verb

: to transmit or address through or as if through a megaphone

intransitive verb

: to speak through or as if through a megaphone

Examples of megaphone in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Around 40 people protested in front of the church’s property with signs and megaphones condemning LGBTQ people. Joy Ashford, Dallas News, 17 Sep. 2023 According to court testimony, Guy confronted officers at a key choke point at the Capitol and used a megaphone to encourage people to push through the barricades, a move prosecutors said helped the mob overrun the police lines. Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Anchorage Daily News, 10 Sep. 2023 Officers ushered the opposition protesters — members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, one of whom was shouting into a megaphone — out of the meeting hall. Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023 Coach Barbie wears a white Barbie jacket with matching athletic shorts, a pink headband, playbook, and a pink megaphone. Parija Kavilanz, CNN, 6 Sep. 2023 An officer attempts to speak with Pickens over a megaphone. Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2023 As evening fell, L.G.B.T.Q. activists and dancers took the megaphone to pay tribute to Mr. Sibley, who was gay and Black and whose murder has been charged as a hate crime. Alex Vadukul, New York Times, 6 Aug. 2023 One woman screamed through a megaphone at Trump supporters, using crude terms to denigrate both their intelligence and manhood. Joseph Morton, Dallas News, 4 Aug. 2023 As Trump's legal troubles escalated, the former president reclaimed his favorite megaphone. USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2023
Verb
Among the weirdest reactions to the Supreme Court’s June 29 decisions on affirmative action, those megaphoned by California’s political class may be the most unhinged. Will Swaim, National Review, 13 July 2023 For countries like India and Turkey, where a once vibrant free press has been tamed into submission and the mainstream media is forced to megaphone the government, the institutional capacity of the U.S. media to critique executive lawlessness and hold it to account remains an object of wonder. Debasish Roy Chowdhury, Time, 11 Jan. 2021 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'megaphone.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

mega- + -phone entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1878, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1901, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of megaphone was in 1878

Dictionary Entries Near megaphone

Cite this Entry

“Megaphone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/megaphone. Accessed 22 Sep. 2023.

Kids Definition

megaphone

noun
mega·​phone
ˈmeg-ə-ˌfōn
: a cone-shaped device used to direct the voice and increase its loudness

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