ringtone

noun

ring·​tone ˈriŋ-ˌtōn 

: the sound made by a cell phone to signal an incoming call

Examples of ringtone in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes was listening to a question from Pete Sweeney, the Star’s Chiefs Insider, when a honking horn ringtone could be heard. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2026

Aside from this feature, iOS 27 also includes a way to adjust the opacity of Liquid Glass, new icon designs, extra-large widgets, and new volume settings for ringtones, alarms, timers, and alerts. — Emma Roth, The Verge, 9 Sep. 2026

As a result, his compositions have become strange totems of the internet, like global ringtones. — Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 30 July 2026

By 2000, Nokia’s custom-ringtone Composer app had popularized a new, short-form musical medium that the ringtone industry, at its peak, would transform into a billion-dollar marketplace in the United States. — IEEE Spectrum, 13 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1983, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ringtone

• boney
• boni
• bony
• coney
• crony
• monie
• mony
• phoney
• phony
• stoney
• stony
• toney

Kids Definition

ringtone

noun

ring·​tone ˈriŋ-ˌtōn 

: the sound made by a cell phone to signal an incoming call