telegram

telegram — noun

1. a short written message delivered on a piece of yellow paper, sent through an el

1.nounB2
Definition

a short written message delivered on a piece of yellow paper, sent through an electrical wire system by a telegraph machine — the main way to send urgent news quickly before telephones and the internet became common.

Example

Grandma still keeps the telegram her father sent from the war front in 1944.

keep + telegram (preserve as a memento)

The messenger boy handed a yellow telegram to Mrs. Ito at the front door.

hand + telegram + to + person (delivery scene)

Common collocations
  • send a telegram
  • receive a telegram
  • deliver a telegram
  • by telegram
  • telegram from
  • yellow telegram
  • telegram arrives
Synonyms
  • cable

    a telegram sent overseas, especially by underwater cable; slightly more technical

  • wire

    informal American term for a telegram, used as both noun and verb ('send me a wire')

  • telex

    a later text-based communication system that replaced telegrams in business; used typed messages over telephone lines

Grammar Patterns

send + telegram + to + person

receive + telegram + from + person

by telegram

Usage Note

Now mostly historical. Telegrams were widely used between the 1850s and the 1980s but have been replaced by phone calls, email, and text messages. In modern fiction or historical writing, 'telegram' signals a pre-digital setting.

Common Mistakes

I will send you a telegram with the address.' (in a modern, everyday situation)
I will text you the address.
telegrams are no longer used for ordinary communication.

telegram — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words refer to ways of sending written messages electronically before the internet, but they differ in medium and time period. A 'telegram' is the general term — a message sent over land via telegraph wires and delivered on paper. A 'cable' is specifically a telegram sent across an ocean through underwater cables, often costing more per word, which forced people to write very brief messages. 'Telex' was a later system (mid-20th century) that allowed businesses to type messages directly and receive typed replies over phone lines — it did not use paper delivery by hand. 'Wire' is an informal American shorthand for both the message and the act of sending it ('send me a wire'). When reading a novel set in 1900, you will see 'telegram'; in a 1970s office scene, you might see 'telex'. All are now obsolete for everyday use.

telegram ↗cable ↗telexwire ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • telegram delivery
  • telegram service
  • telegram messenger
  • telegram boy

Phrases

  • send a telegram
  • receive a telegram
  • telegram arrives
  • telegram from the front

Prepositions

  • by (e.g. by telegram)
  • via (e.g. via telegram)

Etymology

GreekEnglish

The word 'telegram' was formed in English around the 1850s from two Greek roots: 'tele-' meaning 'far off' or 'at a distance', and '-gram' meaning 'something written'. It was created specifically to describe the written messages sent through the new electric telegraph system, which had been invented a few years earlier. The word appears in newspapers from 1852 and quickly replaced earlier terms like 'telegraphic dispatch'.