phone message
19
1.0
- noun
- /foʊn ˈmɛsɪdʒ/
:
mensaje de voz
- She left a phone message on my voicemail asking for a callback.
Examples
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Every time she checked her phone messages, she hoped, foolishly, that she might hear Joel's voice.
Fiction book (1998) -
We'll take care of all your calls and all your phone messages and everything.
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Listen to this cell phone message and tape it.
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I think you got a phone message.
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I received a phone message from you.
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You got a phone message from some kids.
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Sorry about the phone message.
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Here are your phone messages.
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We received your emails and phone messages.
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Chani, I just got these phone messages from last week.
Synonyms
3
1.1
A spoken message left on a phone when the person cannot answer
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a message transmitted or received by telephone' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'phone' (telephone device) with 'message' (a short communication); the compound simply specifies the medium of the message. This noun-noun compositional pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase phone message comes from the early days of answering machines and voicemail, when someone would speak into the phone and the recording was the message. That's why it means 'a message left by telephone'.