What does "robocall" mean?

An automated phone call, commonly for telemarketing purposes, that uses both an autodialer and a recorded message.

Robocall

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
An automated phone call, commonly for telemarketing purposes, that uses both an autodialer and a recorded message. US
"The e-mailers are upset about “robocalls”—pre-recorded, automated phone calls containing anti-Democratic political messages."
2
An phone call made by an automated service wordnet

Verb

1
To make a robocall to. transitive
"Republicans robo-called Americans during their dinner and evening hours, blaming the annoying calls on Democrats."

"The e-mailers are upset about “robocalls”—pre-recorded, automated phone calls containing anti-Democratic political messages."

From robo- + call. First use appears c. 1998 in the Associated Press Newswire.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.