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

phone

1 1.0
A pair of small speakers you wear on or in your ears to listen to sound
  • noun
  • /foʊn/
: 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
97 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
25 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
17 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
10 8.2

Tell someone to wait so you can check or explain something

more chins than a Chinese phone book
  • Offensive
1 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
421 1.0

A set of numbers people use to call each other

pay-phone
  • Archaic
112 2.0

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

phone line
89 1.6

A wire that carries telephone calls between two places

phone book
  • Archaic
87 1.0

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

phone company
77 1.7

A company that provides phone service to people

mobile phone
74 1.0

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

phone bill
47 1.0

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

phone booth
  • Archaic
40 1.5

A small enclosed space with a public phone for private calls

cellular phone
  • US
37 2.3

A portable phone people carry to call or send messages

phone service
30 1.1

A service that lets people make and receive calls

phone message
29 1.0

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

phone card
  • Archaic
14 2.1

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

phone system
14 2.7

A system that sends voice over wires or the internet

phone cord
5 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
2 3.4

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

phone-in
  • Literature
2 3.8

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

extension phone
2 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

desk phone
1 1.7

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

crappy phone
  • NSFW
1 6.5

A mobile phone that is low quality and often works poorly

phone plug
1 3.2

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

phone monkey
  • Offensive
1 9.9

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

doorbell phone
1 4.4

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

door phone
  • Indian
1 4.2

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

Jesus phone
  • Slang
1 9.9

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

banana phone
1 7.7

A toy or real banana used like a phone for fun

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
10 2.7
phone
1 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.