voicemail

noun

voice·​mail ˈvȯis-ˌmāl 

variants or less commonly voice mail or voice-mail

plural voicemails also voice mails or voice-mails

1

: an electronic communication system in which spoken messages are recorded or digitized and stored for later playback by the intended recipient

left a message on the company's voicemail

let the call go to voicemail

I tried calling him twice but I only got his voicemail.

Most vehicles are equipped with hands-free technology for cellphones. However, hands-free does not mean distraction-free. Silence the unit while driving or set up an auto-response that sends calls directly to voicemail.

—Kevin Martin

a voice-mail system

voice-mail messages

2

a

: messages received through a voicemail system

checking her voicemail

b

: a voicemail message

listening to a voicemail

Examples of voicemail in a Sentence

Just leave a message on my voice mail.

I left her a voice mail.

You have two new voice mails.

Recent Examples on the Web

Thompson said in one threatening voicemail, according to the letter. —Luke Barr, ABC News, 17 June 2024

In each of the four voicemails, Gaherty posed a violent threat and used profanity, as well as racist and misogynistic language. —Rebecca Cohen, NBC News, 17 June 2024

The Enquirer has left a voicemail with the elder Hendon seeking comment from the family. —Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 12 June 2024

Callers are then invited to leave a message; more than 3,300 people have dialed the number, according to Netflix, with some 500 of them leaving voicemail messages. —Josh Rottenberg, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2024

Earlier this year, Harry settled a similar suit with a different tabloid publisher, Mirror Group Newspaper, which a judge found had engaged in unlawful information-gathering tactics, like phone hacking and intercepting his voicemails. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 21 May 2024

Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [e-mail]. —Ruth Tam, NPR, 31 May 2024

In 2009, The Guardian exposed the practice, common at newspapers published by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, of hacking the voicemails of unsuspecting people and harvesting their contents for publication. —Jacob Weisberg, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2019

Months after the the senator's girlfriend left the first voicemail seeking a favor, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer who worked for Menendez asked a colleague how many Americans were posted to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. —Caitlin Yilek, CBS News, 30 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

voice mail

noun

: an electronic communication system in which spoken messages are recorded for later playback to the intended recipient

also : such a message