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Glite Dictionary
📱 A calling device 🔤 A speech sound 📞 To call 🎧 Ear speakers
phone

phone

190 1.0
A pair of small speakers you wear on or in your ears to listen to sound
  • noun
  • /foʊn/
translation icon : auricular
  • Private interviews lasting from 60 to 90 minutes were conducted over the phone or in person and audio-taped.

Examples

  • By the time we're running down that list, my phone is dead.

  • Alice frantically works the phones while three or four women cram the waiting area.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Hold the phone over top of the watch.

  • But the images from this phone, they lack color and they feel flat.

  • All the stuff in the phone is by design as average as possible.

  • The picture is a bit blurry; my phone camera is just not that great.

    Academic text (2014)

  • Table 2 lists the toll-free phone number and website for each of the manufacturers.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Anyway, there's this cool new phone app that lets you add cat pics to photos.

    Academic text (2010)

  • A man sits cross-legged on a studio floor and is talking to a phone-in viewer.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • I used my new phone to listen to my favorite music while walking.

Synonyms

headphone
vsphone
99 1.0

A device you wear on your head or in your ears to listen to music

is the basic ear worn sound device not tied to specific sources
earpiece
vsphone
28 3.3

A small device you put in or over the ear to hear sound from a phone

is a regular size listening device not defined by small size or secrecy
earphone
vsphone
19 3.2

A small device you put in or over your ear to listen to sound privately

is a general listening device not focused solely on private use

Idioms

on the phone
∞ 1.0

Talking to someone using a telephone

to hold the phone
  • Informal
8 8.2

Tell someone to wait so you can check or explain something

more chins than a Chinese phone book
  • Offensive
9.9

A person who has many chins because they gained weight

Compounds

phone call
∞ 1.0

A time when you talk to someone by telephone

phone number
393 1.0

A set of numbers people use to call each other

phone company
75 1.7

A company that provides phone service to people

pay-phone
  • Archaic
75 2.0

A public phone you use by putting coins or a card in it

phone line
73 1.6

A wire that carries telephone calls between two places

phone book
  • Archaic
60 1.0

A book with people's names, addresses, and numbers to call listed alphabetically

mobile phone
58 1.0

A small telephone you carry to call, text, and go online

phone bill
44 1.0

A list that shows charges for phone calls and service for a month

phone booth
  • Archaic
42 1.5

A small enclosed space with a public phone for private calls

cellular phone
  • US
35 2.3

A portable phone people carry to call or send messages

phone service
24 1.1

A service that lets people make and receive calls

phone message
19 1.0

A short voice recording someone leaves on a phone when the person cannot answer

phone system
9 2.7

A system that sends voice over wires or the internet

phone card
  • Archaic
6 2.1

A small card you buy to pay for phone calls from public phones or when traveling

phone cord
4 1.9

A coiled wire that connects a phone handset to its base

phone tag
  • Informal
3 5.1

People keep calling each other but always miss the calls

phone jack
1 3.4

A socket on a wall where you plug a telephone to connect it

extension phone
1 3.0

An extra phone on the same line to use in another room

dial phone
  • Archaic
1 6.8

A telephone with a round wheel you turn to enter numbers

phone-in
  • Literature
1 3.8

A radio or TV show where people call in to speak and ask questions

crappy phone
  • NSFW
1 6.5

A mobile phone that is low quality and often works poorly

desk phone
1 1.7

A telephone that sits on a desk with a handset and buttons

phone monkey
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A person who answers many phone calls to help customers in a call center

phone plug
1 3.2

A small part you push into a wall socket to connect a telephone

door phone
  • Indian
4.2

A device at a building entrance that lets people inside talk to visitors outside before opening the door

doorbell phone
4.4

A system that lets a person at the door talk to a person inside

banana phone
7.7

A toy or real banana used like a phone for fun

Jesus phone
  • Slang
9.9

A mobile phone, often an iPhone, that many people want and treat as special

orinasal phone
  • Specialized
9.9

A sound you make when air flows through both the mouth and the nose, like some French vowels

phone tapper
8.9

A person who secretly listens to other people's phone calls

phone zombie
  • Offensive
8.5

A person who looks at their phone and ignores people and things around them

How Isolating

earbud
12 2.7
phone
190 1.0

Surface Forms

phone singular
phones plural

Etymology

Phones (headphones) comes from the same root phon- 'sound' and is short for headphones or earphones. They are called phones because they let you hear sound close to your ears.