Meaning & use
teleprinter
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Meaning
nouncountableold-fashioned
An old machine that sent and received typed messages over telegraph or telephone lines, printing them on paper.
Grammar: Countable; can be used with 'a' or in the plural.
Patterns
- send a message by teleprinter
- a teleprinter message
Before email, news agencies sent stories to newspapers by teleprinter.
The office still had a teleprinter in the corner, though it was rarely used.
Messages arrived on the teleprinter and were then typed up by a secretary.
Word forms
| plural | teleprinters |
|---|
Common combinations
- teleprinter message
- The teleprinter message was urgent and needed an immediate reply.
- teleprinter operator
- She worked as a teleprinter operator for the railway company.
- by teleprinter
- The two offices communicated by teleprinter throughout the 1960s.
Synonyms and how they differ
- telex
- Telex is a later system that used teleprinters but sent messages through a switched network; it can also mean the message itself.
- teletype
- Teletype is a mainly American term for the same kind of machine, often used as a trademark.
Word family
- teleprint verb
- To send a message using a teleprinter (rare).
Commonly confused: teleprinter or teleprompter? teleprinter or printer?
teleprinter vs teleprompter
A teleprompter displays a script for a speaker to read on camera; a teleprinter sends and receives typed messages.
teleprinter vs printer
A printer is a modern device connected to a computer; a teleprinter was a communication machine used before computers were common.
Practice
What was a teleprinter mainly used for?
Choose one answer.
A teleprinter sent and received typed messages over telegraph or telephone lines. Displaying a script is a teleprompter; printing photos or scanning is done by modern computer printers and scanners.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “teleprinter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.