telegraphese

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noun

The terse, abbreviated writing style used in or as used in telegraph messages; speech that resembles this.

Scrabble 18
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Meanings

nountelegraphese (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe terse, abbreviated writing style used in or as used in telegraph messages; speech that resembles this.

    Despite the new gadgetry, these journalists are actually rediscovering telegraphese — the clipped (ideally witty) style that flourished because of word limits imposed by an earlier technology, the telegraph.

    2008 January 21, Noam Cohen, “Campaign Reporting in Under 140 Taps”, in New York Times
    1 more example

    Vythilingam said: "Injection every day. Perhaps all right then." Anstruther had not been long in Malaya. He attributed this wog's clipped telegraphese to the shyness of one who meets socially a racial superior.

    1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 2000, page 575

Origin

From telegraph + -ese.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 電報體 /电报体
  • 電報體 /电报体 (diànbàotǐ)Translations
Indonesian bahasa kawat
  • bahasa kawatTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

telegraphese. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telegraphese

MLA

“telegraphese.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telegraphese. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “telegraphese,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telegraphese.

Source: telegraphese on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.