touch-tone

American  

[tuhch-tohn] / ˈtʌtʃˌtoʊn /

Or touchtone

adjective

1. of or relating to a tone-dialing system or a push-button phone operating on tone dialing.

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noun

1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a tone-dialing system.

2. a telephone utilizing this system.

touch-tone British  

adjective

1. of or relating to a telephone dialling system in which each of the buttons pressed generates a tone of a different pitch, which is transmitted to the exchange

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Etymology

Origin of touch-tone

An Americanism dating back to 1955–60

Example Sentences

One of the most reliable ways for the U.S. to reach North Korea is via a light pink-colored, touch-tone phone at the U.S.-led U.N.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 20, 2023

The movie’s décor is also specific, from touch-tone phones and Selectric typewriters to the slanted-window city buses and graffiti-covered subway cars, neon signs and clothing styles of the seventies and eighties.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 3, 2019

Little details would amaze him, like touch-tone phones that replaced the bulky rotaries everyone had used when he went away.

From Washington Times • Apr. 4, 2015

The tones you hear in touch-tone phones are not the M-F tones that operate the long-distance switching system.

From Slate • Oct. 7, 2011

The app now makes touch-tone sounds when you dial.

From New York Times • Jul. 13, 2010