English dictionary · noun

telephone

a device that transmits speech over distances by converting sound to signals

Meaning and definitions

1. a device that transmits speech over distances by converting sound to signals

Connected roots

• tele-

  far, distant

• phon-

  sound, voice

Explore the word family

These words share a recorded root connection. A shared root is a learning clue; it does not establish every step in a word’s history.

• television

  An electronic communication medium that allows the transmission of real-time visual images, and often sound.

• telegraph

  a system for transmitting messages over distance by signals along a wire

• telescope

  an optical instrument for making distant objects appear nearer

• microphone

  an instrument for converting sound waves into electrical energy

• telegram

  A message transmitted by telegraph.

• telecommunication

  The science and technology of the communication of messages over a distance using electric, electronic or electromagnetic impulses.

• saxophone

  A single-reed instrument musical instrument of the woodwind family, usually made of brass and with a distinctive loop bringing the bell upwards.

• telecast

  To broadcast by television.

• phonetic

  Relating to the sounds of spoken language.

• telemetry

  the automatic measurement and transmission of data from remote sources

• telepathy

  The capability to communicate directly by psychic means; the sympathetic affection of one mind by the thoughts, feelings, or emotions of another at a distance, without communication through the ordinary channels of sensation.

• megaphone

  a cone-shaped device for amplifying and directing the voice

• phonograph

  A device that captures sound waves onto an engraved archive; a lathe.

• phonology

  The study of the way sounds function in languages, including accent, intonation, phonemes, stress, and syllable structure, and which sounds are distinctive units within a language; (countable) the way sounds function within a given language; a phonological system.

• telegraphy

  Any process for transmitting arbitrarily long messages over a long distance using a code, especially by means of electrified wires or radio waves using Morse code.

• telex

  A network of teletypes.

• teleconference

  A telephone conference, an arranged phone call between more than two parties.

• telehealth

  Healthcare facilitated by telecommunication technology, typically allowing a doctor or other healthcare professional to interact with a patient visually and audibly.

• hydrophone

  a transducer that converts underwater sound waves into electrical signals, rather like a microphone

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