noun · verb · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈtɛl.ɪ.ɡɹɑːf/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈtɛl.ə.ɡɹɑːf/
Canada, General-American:/ˈtɛl.ɪ.ɡɹæf/
Canada, General-American:/ˈtɛl.ə.ɡɹæf/
California, Southern:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:T EH1 L AH0 G R AE2 F
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Synonym of telegraphy, any process for transmitting arbitrarily long messages over a long distance using a symbolic code.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncommon
Examples
This strict sense of telegraph developed from French usage for Napoleon's overland semaphore network but rather arbitrarily excludes similar Chinese and other signalling networks.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: telegraphy, any process for transmitting arbitrarily long messages over a long distance using a symbolic code
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
The electrical device gradually developed in the early 19th century to transmit messages (telegrams) using Morse code; the entire system used to transmit its messages including overhead lines and transoceanic cables.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
Examples
The first message transmitted by telegraph in the United States was WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A visible or audible cue that indicates to an opponent the action that a character is about to take.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: video-games
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
verb
Meaning 4
To use a telegraph; to send a message by telegraph.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
verb
Meaning 5
To clearly communicate to another nonverbally (whether by gesture, a change in attitude, or any other sign), and especially unintentionally.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Examples
Her frown telegraphed her displeasure.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: signal
6
noun
Meaning 6
apparatus used to communicate at a distance over a wire (usually in Morse code)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: telegraphy
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: apparatus, setup
7
verb
Meaning 7
send cables, wires, or telegrams
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: cable, wire
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: telecommunicate
History
Etymology
Borrowed from French télégraphe, equivalent to tele- (“far, distant”) + -graph (“writing”), suggested as a new name for Claude Chappe's overland semaphore network by André François Miot de Mélito in place of Chappe's original tachygraphe (“tachygraph, fast writer”).
Across languages
Translations
121 source translations are retained for this English entry.
