as in dialing
to make a telephone call to
she phoned her friend to invite her over for dinner
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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
-
Another key solution is demand flexibility, dialing back power use at select times or in certain locations.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
22 Apr. 2026
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Still, traveling light doesn't mean dialing down creativity.—
Susmita Baral,
Travel + Leisure,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
In November 2024, Councilmembers Monica Rodriguez and Bob Blumenfield introduced a motion calling for the city to explore bypassing LAHSA and contracting directly with service providers, citing concerns about fragmentation and accountability.—
Teresa Liu,
Daily News,
25 Apr. 2026
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And their second-best defender, Jaden McDaniels, is skilled at calling the Nuggets’ names.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
25 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Phoning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phoning. Accessed 28 Apr. 2026.
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