robocall

noun

ro·​bo·​call ˈrō-bō-ˌkȯl 

: a telephone call from an automated source that delivers a prerecorded message to a large number of people

robocall transitive verb

robocalled; robocalling; robocalls

Poor small-town America. During the last gasps of this fevered election, pollsters, zealous campaign foot soldiers and reporters are kicking down its doors, figuratively speaking, robocalling its citizens during suppertime …

—Doug Colligan

robocaller noun

plural robocallers

Now the only people who use the telephone are campaign robocallers and the phone company, dunning me to switch to their new wireless plan.

—Richard Brookhiser

robocalling noun

Business organizations have warned that legislative action against robocalling that defines the practice too broadly could prevent legitimate businesses from efficiently reaching their customers with relevant information.

—Colin A. Young

Examples of robocall in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The school district sends out a robocall daily for students who are absent, followed by a call from the school attendance monitor. —Brooke Conrad, Baltimore Sun, 15 Nov. 2024

Robocall statistics for September 2024 The latest data from YouMail reveals alarming trends in robocall activity across the U.S.: Total calls: Approximately 4.5 billion robocalls were made. —Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 2 Nov. 2024

Three years after laws went into effect to protect consumers from robocalls, a public interest advocacy group says fewer than half of phone companies are in compliance, Betty Lin-Fisher reports. —Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 29 Oct. 2024

In October 2020, Nessel charged two men with using robocalls to dissuade Black voters from casting their ballots. —John Wisely, Detroit Free Press, 23 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

robot + -o- + call entry 2

First Known Use

1993, in the meaning defined above