white-telephone

adjective

Characteristic of the Italian genre of film called white telephone; suggesting consequence-free lives of privilege.

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Meanings

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 called white telephone; suggesting consequence-free lives of privilege.

    Astaire and Rogers were fortunate: they embodied the swing-music, white-telephone, streamlined era before the Second World War, when frivolousness wasn't decadent, and when adolescents dreamed that 'going out' was dressing up and becoming part of a beautiful world of top hats and silver lamé.

    1972, Pauline Kael, The New Yorker

Origin

Adjective form of white telephone.

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-telephone

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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