as in dialing
to make a telephone call to
she phoned her friend to invite her over for dinner
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of phoning
My sister, Louise, had spent hours perfecting the screechy, imperious cry of Starscream, only to use it when phoning the takeaway and ordering curry sauce and chips.
—
Douglas Stuart, New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2026
Efforts to reach Das and Cooper — including by phoning numbers and sending letters to addresses that appeared to be associated with them — were unsuccessful.
—David Hilzenrath, Miami Herald, 9 Apr. 2026
Elordi is barely phoning it in.
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 9 Apr. 2026
Toilet plumbing problems, email glitches and issues phoning home.
—Rufina Chow, NBC news, 3 Apr. 2026
Jamie Foxx stalking a Bellagio suite, phoning Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Garnett, and Barry Sanders for betting tips.
—Mckay Coppins, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2026
Much like Ghostface himself, Scream 7 basically defaults to phoning it in.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Feb. 2026
MacPhail was phoning to let Klein know that the Twins were adding him to their 40-man roster ahead of the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft.
—Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 24 Feb. 2026
In a 2020 interview with the FBI, the mother recalled phoning Interlochen to inquire about Epstein.
—Ava Berger, NPR, 19 Feb. 2026
Douglas Stuart, New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2026
Efforts to reach Das and Cooper — including by phoning numbers and sending letters to addresses that appeared to be associated with them — were unsuccessful.
—David Hilzenrath, Miami Herald, 9 Apr. 2026
Elordi is barely phoning it in.
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 9 Apr. 2026
Toilet plumbing problems, email glitches and issues phoning home.
—Rufina Chow, NBC news, 3 Apr. 2026
Jamie Foxx stalking a Bellagio suite, phoning Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Garnett, and Barry Sanders for betting tips.
—Mckay Coppins, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2026
Much like Ghostface himself, Scream 7 basically defaults to phoning it in.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Feb. 2026
MacPhail was phoning to let Klein know that the Twins were adding him to their 40-man roster ahead of the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft.
—Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 24 Feb. 2026
In a 2020 interview with the FBI, the mother recalled phoning Interlochen to inquire about Epstein.
—Ava Berger, NPR, 19 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phoning
Verb
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Allegiant’s plan includes ramping up service during peak travel periods, like in the summer or over spring break, and then dialing that back on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in lower-demand weeks, selling more seats to customers at times when the airline could have more pricing power, Anderson said.—
Leslie Josephs,
CNBC,
13 May 2026
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The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline can be reached by dialing 988.—
Alexandra Skores,
CNN Money,
12 May 2026
Verb
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The Packers won their fourth Super Bowl, and Rodgers earned two of his four MVPs with McCarthy calling the plays.—
Will Graves,
Chicago Tribune,
17 May 2026
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Cassidy, a medical doctor, has broken with the HHS secretary on multiple occasions, including slamming a change to the hepatitis B vaccine schedule for infants and calling for the postponement of key vaccine advisory panel meetings.—
Kaia Hubbard,
CBS News,
16 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Phoning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phoning. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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