plural phones
1
: 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)) : telephone
Once it was as simple as this. I sat at my desk. The phone rang. I answered it.—
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwellreceived a phone call
: such as
a
: a telephone that operates by means of a landline
… the phone is in the front hall; this is an old-fashioned house …—Alice Munro
Alice Munro
b
: cell phone
… Dick got a call on his cell phone. Roxy grabbed the phone and answered.—Mary-Anne Olmsted-Kohls
Mary-Anne Olmsted-Kohls
especially
: smartphone
I have set an alert on my phone to make sure I don't forget a friend's birthday … —Mike Vaccaro
Mike Vaccaro 2
: a device that converts electrical energy into sound waves and is worn over or inserted into the ear : earphone, headphone
The morning the "Smoking Gun" tape was played, tickets were so scarce that one couple from Kansas City, Mo., doubled up on earphones, she listening to the left, he to the right phone.—Louise Sweeney
Louise Sweeney… taking off these RHA headphones and placing the Dr. Dre phones on my head, I realized the more expensive headphones did sound somewhat cleaner …—Charlie White
Charlie White
: a speech sound considered as a physical event without regard to its place in the sound system of a language
plural -phones
1
: sound-transmitting device
microphone
radiophone
2
: musical instrument
xylophone
3
: speech sound
homophone
: symbol representing a speech sound
polyphone
4
: speaker of (a specified language)
Francophone
: of or relating to a population that speaks (a specified language)
Francophone
Examples of phone in a Sentence
Verb
Someone from the newspaper will be phoning with a few questions.
she phoned her friend to invite her over for dinner
Recent Examples on the Web
PC Magazine, 10 Apr. 2025
Motorola’s older phones employed Rapid Charging, but its latest phones use TurboPower.
—Simon Hill, Wired News, 10 Apr. 2025
Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2025
Johnson, when the press conference ended, phoned in to the conservatives’ meeting, according to Norman.
—Mychael Schnell, The Hill, 10 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for phone
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.
Noun
Samsung is the only other major Android phone maker that matches this policy.
—PC Magazine, 10 Apr. 2025
Motorola’s older phones employed Rapid Charging, but its latest phones use TurboPower.
—Simon Hill, Wired News, 10 Apr. 2025
Verb
The writing, now far from the original book, is marked by the familiar late-season laziness of TV writers phoning it in.
—Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2025
Johnson, when the press conference ended, phoned in to the conservatives’ meeting, according to Norman.
—Mychael Schnell, The Hill, 10 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for phone
Cite this Entry
“Phone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phone. Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
phone
1 of 3 noun-phone
3 of 3 noun combining formˌfōn
: sound
homophone
—often in names of musical instruments and sound-sending devicesradiophone
xylophone
Etymology
Noun combining form
from Greek phōnē "voice, sound"
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share