telephone

noun

tele·​phone ˈte-lə-ˌfōn 

plural telephones

: a device by which sound (such as speech) is converted into electrical impulses and transmitted (as by wire or radio waves) to one or more specific receivers (see receiver sense d(1)) : phone

The telephone rang.

We spoke by telephone.

a telephone call

: such as

a

: a telephone that operates by means of a landline

… an old-fashioned corded telephone. The kind that plugs right into the wall phone jack.

—Eliot Kleinberg

b

: cell phone

In a day when most of us have a telephone in our back pocket … the need for a pay phone no longer exists.

—Paul Connor

Examples of telephone in a Sentence

I just have to make a quick telephone call before we leave.

You can order the cake over the telephone.

The telephone has been ringing all morning!

She picked up the telephone and dialed the number.

He slammed down the telephone.

They hired someone to answer the telephones.

All our telephones are cordless.

I left the telephone off the hook.

Recent Examples on the Web

He was also ordered to stay away from the victim, prohibited from contacting her directly or indirectly in writing, through a telephone, or via social media. —Peter D'oench, CBS News, 4 June 2026

With telegraph machines and telephones from the 1800s, inventions from Thomas Edison’s company, 20th-century TVs and computers and more, the museum covers how technology in media evolved. —Zuri Primos june 3, Kansas City Star, 3 June 2026

The problem is not limited to telephone wires. —John Ruwitch, NPR, 3 June 2026

But the geography is more mental than physical in a work that takes place largely through telephone and video calls. —Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

tele- + -phone entry 1

First Known Use

1864, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing telephone

• cellular telephone
• down the telephone
• French telephone
• on the telephone
• screen one's (telephone/phone) calls
• telephone book
• telephone booth
• telephone box
• telephone directory
• telephone number
• telephone pole
• telephone tag
• wireless telephone

Rhymes for telephone

• acetone
• anglophone
• baritone
• bourguignon
• buspirone
• chaperon
• chaperone
• cobblestone
• collarbone
• cornerstone
• cortisone
• dictaphone

Kids Definition

telephone

1 of 2 noun

tele·​phone ˈtel-ə-ˌfōn 

: any of several devices for transmitting and receiving sounds over long distances by electricity

telephone

2 of 2 verb

telephoned; telephoning

1

: to communicate by telephone

2

: to send by telephone

3

: to speak to by telephone