Meaning & use
telex
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Meanings
noununcountable
An old international messaging system that sent typed text between offices using teleprinters and phone lines.
Grammar: Used without 'a' or a plural when talking about the system itself: send a message by telex.
Patterns
- by telex
- send something by telex
- a telex message
Before email, companies sent urgent orders by telex.
The newsroom received the report by telex from its overseas office.
Telex was once the fastest way to confirm a shipment across continents.
nouncountable
A single message sent through the telex system.
Grammar: Countable here, so you can say 'a telex' or 'three telexes'.
Patterns
- send a telex
- receive a telex
- a telex from someone
She sent a telex to the Tokyo branch asking for the final figures.
A telex arrived at midnight with the changed flight details.
He filed the telex with the other shipping documents.
verbtransitive
To send a message to someone using the telex system.
Grammar: Takes an object: telex the office. You can also say telex someone something.
Patterns
- telex someone
- telex something to someone
- telex someone something
The manager telexed the supplier to confirm the order.
They telexed the revised schedule to all their agents.
Please telex us the moment the cargo leaves port.
Word forms
| plural | telexes |
|---|---|
| third person singular | telexes |
| past tense | telexed |
| past participle | telexed |
| -ing form | telexing |
Common combinations
- by telex
- The confirmation came by telex, not by phone.
- send a telex
- He sent a telex to the head office.
- telex machine
- An old telex machine stood in the corner of the office.
- telex number
- Write your telex number at the top of the form.
- telex network
- The telex network linked major cities around the world.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- teleprinter noun
- The machine that typed and received telex messages.
- telegraph noun
- An earlier system for sending coded electrical messages along wires.
Commonly confused: telex or telefax? telex or text?
telex vs telefax
Telefax (or fax) sends a copy of a document by scanning it; telex sent only typed text.
telex vs text
A text is a short mobile-phone message; telex was an office system used long before mobile phones.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'telex' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Telex' as a verb takes a direct object, so 'telexed the contract to the Paris office' is correct. Option 2 puts the object in the wrong place, and options 3 and 4 use prepositions that do not fit this verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “telex”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.