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Business English vocabulary · Phone and Video Calls

Telephone tag

Meaning in business english, with examples

nounCommon term

In business english, telephone tag means: Repeated unsuccessful attempts by two people to reach each other by phone.

In Turkish: karşılıklı arayıp ulaşamama

How it is used

Informal, especially in American English. Often used with play; it describes repeated missed connections rather than deliberately avoiding a caller.

Example sentences

  1. After two days of telephone tag, we agreed by email to speak at three o'clock.

    A fixed appointment breaks the cycle of calling when the other person is unavailable.

  2. Leaving my available times in the voicemail helped us avoid another round of telephone tag.

    Availability information makes a successful return call more likely.

Common collocations

  • play telephone tag
  • avoid telephone tag
  • call backTo phone someone who called you earlier, or to phone someone again later.
  • voicemailA system that records phone messages when the person you call does not answer; also a single recorded message.

More terms: Phone and Video Calls

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