# telephone tag

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/telephone-tag
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A situation in which a person unsuccessfully attempts to contact another person by telephone and leaves a message instead, and in which the second person then unsuccessfully attempts to return the initial call and leaves a message for the first person, and so on as if the two are playing a game of tag in which the most recent person to have been left with a message is now designated as "it" (i.e. as the player now obliged to chase the other and to attempt anew to make contact).

## Examples

- We are playing telephone tag and cannot seem to talk.
- You always play telephone tag with your sister because of the time difference.
- I have been playing telephone tag with my doctor all morning, leaving messages back and forth without actually speaking.
- The HR manager and I played telephone tag for three days before we finally discussed the job offer during my lunch break.
- Despite our best intentions to coordinate the meeting, we spent the entire week playing telephone tag, leaving a trail of missed calls and unanswered voicemails in our wake.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.