dialing

Punching phone digits

Dialing is the act of entering a phone number to make a call.

The word persists from rotary phones, where you literally turned a dial for each digit.

Now it covers any method of initiating a call: She's dialing her mother, He dialed 911.

Extended to tuning: dialing in the radio station.

To dial in something is to adjust it precisely: We're still dialing in the recipe.

telephone

rotary

Involving circular motion

  • handsetHeld telephone component
  • ringingSustained resonant sound
  • busyActively occupied with tasks

engaged · operator · landline · receiver · payphone · corded · pulse · tone · touch-tone · keypad

tuning

frequency

Rate of recurrence

  • radioElectromagnetic wave receiver
  • knobRounded gripping fixture
  • stationFixed stopping point

antenna · adjustment · calibration · fine-tuning · receiver · amplitude · modulation · transmitter · broadcast · signal

internet

modem

Digital-to-analog signal converter

  • ISPWeb access company
  • bandwidthData transmission capacity
  • routerPacket-forwarding network device

broadband · DSL · connection · online · 56k · AOL · handshake · busy signal · login · disconnection

precision

calibration

Adjusting for measurement accuracy

tweaking · zeroing · regulation · configuration · targeting · homing · ranging · sighting · aiming · locking

Categories
Opposites
call initiation vs reception

dialinganswering

Providing a response

receiving · picking up

connection attempt vs disconnection

dialinghanging up

Ending a telephone connection

disconnecting · terminating · cutting off

engagement vs non-engagement

dialingignoring

Deliberately not noticing

declining · screening

Phrases
Family

misdialing, autodialing

Familiarity
Top 50,000
Profile
Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G