Meanings
- humorousuncountableA tendency to use the telephone excessively.
AT&T may have found the solution to that teen-age disease dreaded by parents across the country — telephonitis.
1986, Network World, volume 3, number 18, page 112 more examples
Ever since Saturday the A. J. Favaloro family has been suffering from an acute case of "telephonitis." The telephone began ringing at 5 a.m. Saturday and has hardly stopped since.
1950, United States. Congress. House. Banking and Currency Committee, Extension of Rent Control, 1950: Hearings... (page 104); quoted from the Times-Picayune, May 4, 1950Telephonitis was the most important clue among several suggesting that a person observed one Friday evening might be under the influence. He was talking almost incessantly on his cell phone in the middle of a small-town restaurant […]
2004, Doug Thorburn, How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics, page 56
Origin
From telephone + -itis, as though it were a medical condition.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
telephonitis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telephonitis
“telephonitis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telephonitis. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “telephonitis,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telephonitis.
Source: telephonitis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.