Meaning & use
phonograph
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Meanings
nouncountableold-fashioned
An early machine that recorded and played sound using a cylinder or disc and a needle.
Grammar: Countable: a phonograph, the phonograph, phonographs.
Patterns
- play a phonograph
- a phonograph record
My grandfather kept an old phonograph in the attic.
Edison's phonograph was one of the first machines to record sound.
They gathered around the phonograph to hear the music.
nouncountableold-fashioned
A device that plays recorded sound from discs, especially an early record player.
Grammar: Countable; now often replaced by record player in everyday speech.
Patterns
- listen to a phonograph
- a phonograph needle
She bought a phonograph at an antique shop.
The museum displays a phonograph from the 1920s.
He carefully placed the needle on the phonograph.
Word forms
| plural | phonographs |
|---|
Common combinations
- phonograph record
- He owns a collection of old phonograph records.
- phonograph needle
- The phonograph needle needs to be replaced.
- play a phonograph
- They played a phonograph at the party.
Synonyms and how they differ
- record player
- Record player is the modern everyday term; phonograph sounds old-fashioned and often refers to early machines.
- gramophone
- Gramophone is the British term for a similar machine that plays discs; phonograph is more common in American English.
Word family
- phonographic adjective
- Relating to phonographs or sound recording.
Commonly confused: phonograph or phonogram?
phonograph vs phonogram
A phonogram is a written symbol for a sound, while a phonograph is a machine that plays sound.
Practice
Before CDs, people played music on a ______, which used a needle and a rotating disc.
Choose one answer.
A phonograph is the machine that plays recorded sound from a disc. A phonogram is a written symbol, not a device.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “phonograph”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.