Dictionary

dumbphone en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈdʌm.fəʊn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈdʌm.foʊn/ (General-American)

Etymology

From dumb + phone, constructed as an antonym to smartphone.

Meanings

1. (informal) A cell phone that does not have any functionality characteristic of a smartphone.
   • But kids don’t really need an internet-enabled phone at the start of high school, [Jean] Twenge argues, because they can get a “dumbphone” (a term Twenge dislikes). 2025 September 6, Catherine Pearson, “She Started the Debate About Kids and Phones. Now She Wants to End It.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • The Boring Phone is part of a new dumbphone boom, built on the suspicion of gen Z towards the data- and attention-harvesting technologies they have grown up with. 2024 April 27, James Tapper, Aneesa Ahmed, “The ‘boring phone’: stressed-out gen Z ditch smartphones for dumbphones”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:

Forms

Coordinates

flip phone

Hypernyms

phone · cell phone · mobile phone

Synonyms

basic phone

Translations (5)

ru звони́лка (cell phone lacking the functionality characteristic of a smartphone) · ru бабушкафо́н (cell phone lacking the functionality characteristic of a smartphone) · cmn 非智能手機 /非智能手机 (cell phone lacking the functionality characteristic of a smartphone) · es teléfono de teclas (cell phone lacking the functionality characteristic of a smartphone) · fi peruspuhelin (cell phone lacking the functionality characteristic of a smartphone)