1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

telephone

verb

Definition of telephonenext
as in to dial
to make a telephone call to I'll try to telephone the office and make an appointment today

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of telephone Uncle Vernon had telephoned the police on more than one occasion. — Literary Hub, 13 Mar. 2026 Or telephone them at 202-772-5600. — Robert B. Reich, Hartford Courant, 12 Feb. 2026 At around lunchtime, the editor of the East African Standard telephoned the princess's secretary, Martin Charteris at the Outspan Hotel, which serves as a base for visiting Treetops, to ask if reports of King George VI's death were true. — Hope Coke, Vanity Fair, 7 Feb. 2026 Trump, who plans to visit Beijing next year for trade talks, telephoned Takaichi last month, urging her not to escalate the dispute, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. — CNN Money, 7 Dec. 2025 See All Example Sentences for telephone
Recent Examples of Synonyms for telephone
  1. dial
  2. call
  3. phone
Verb
  • The ingredients that acidify or sweeten the drink also need to be dialed back in order to balance the mixture; many bartenders will include spices or other ingredients that provide nuance and complexity in the drink.
    — Esther Tseng, Bon Appetit Magazine, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Epigenetic control — the means by which an organism can dial the expression of its genetic repertoire up or down, or shut off the expression of some genes entirely — may have evolved first to bring transposons to heel.
    — Jake Buehler, Quanta Magazine, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of dial
Verb
  • Rays Hall of Famer Carl Crawford was a three-time winner of the award — formally called the Don Zimmer MVP award and presented by the Tampa Bay chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
    — Marc Topkin, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 Sep. 2026
  • For years, Illinois ran a tax-credit scholarship program of its own called Invest in Kids.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of call
Verb
  • The president phoned the co-founder of the chipmaker on Monday during an interview Huang was having for a podcast.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 15 Sep. 2026
  • So the publicists for writers, theaters, and museums kept writing and phoning, even offering to fly her back to New York to see this or that, once or twice mentioning a free trip to Europe.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of phone

Browse Nearby Words

telepathy
telephone
telephoned
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Telephone.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/telephone. Accessed 27 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 25
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
See All