telephone directory
3
2.0
- noun
- /ˈtɛlɪˌfoʊn dɪˈrɛktəri/
:
guía telefónica
- To find a local business, you can look it up in the telephone directory.
- listed in the telephone directory
Examples
-
Jack hung up and looked over to the open page in the yellow telephone directory for the number of another hospital.
Fiction book (1999) -
When the new telephone directory came out after the war, I even looked you up in it.
-
Take out your telephone directory.
-
"Have you got a telephone directory?"
Fiction book (1990) -
If you have access to a telephone directory, they should all be listed in there, though.
Fiction book (1999) -
I'll be in the Portland telephone directory.
-
Wasn't there a telephone directory in the hotel?
-
The names and addresses of millions of people are available in telephone directories.
Blog text (20) -
Eight hundred households were chosen randomly from the telephone directory of Jersey City, New Jersey.
Academic text (1996) -
I sipped my coffee and munched a piece of toast while flipping through the telephone directory I'd propped on my knee.
Fiction book (1997)
Synonyms
60
1.0
A book with people's names, addresses, and numbers to call listed alphabetically
50
3.0
A book or online list of names and addresses of people and organizations
8
1.0
A book or list of people and businesses with their phone numbers
5
1.0
A book that lists names, addresses and phone numbers of people and businesses
3
2.7
A printed list of people's names and home phone numbers in alphabetical order
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: a 'directory' (a listing of names/contacts) that is specifically for 'telephone' numbers, so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a phone book or list of subscribers. This construction is cross-linguistically common (e.g., 'phone book') and follows standard noun + noun compounding patterns, making it immediately understandable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The name telephone directory comes from old printed books people kept next to the phone; the directory listed people's names and their telephone numbers in alphabetical order. So, telephone directory now means a 'list' that helps you find someone's phone number, whether in a book or online.