white telephone

noun

Italian light-comedy and melodramatic films from the Fascist period.

OriginItalian telefoni bianchi →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounwhite telephone (countable and uncountable, plural white telephones)

plural white telephones

  1. countablederogatoryuncountableItalian light-comedy and melodramatic films from the Fascist period.
  2. countablederogatoryoftenuncountableFilms of other nations that share a nonseriousness of tone and disconnection from reality with the Italian films.
adjectivewhite telephone (comparative more white telephone, superlative most white telephone)

comparative more white telephone · superlative most white telephone · alternative white-telephone

  1. derogatoryoftenCharacteristic of the Italian genre of film, white telephone; a sense of consequence-free lives of privilege.

Origin

  1. Italiantelefoni bianchi
  2. Englishwhite telephone

Calque of Italian telefoni bianchi.

More words from Italian

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

white telephone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20telephone

MLA

“white telephone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20telephone. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “white telephone,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20telephone.

Source: white telephone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.