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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

white-telephone en · ADJ

Etymology

Adjective form of white telephone.

Meanings

  1. (derogatory, often) Characteristic 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:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most white-telephone Degree=Sup lexicographic
more white-telephone Degree=Cmp lexicographic
white telephone alternative lexicographic