Robocaller

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An automated telephone system that dials many numbers and delivers pre-recorded messages or connects calls to operators without human dialing
2. A computerized service that places calls to numerous recipients using recorded messages or transfers the connection to a live representative
3. Software or a device that automatically calls large numbers of people with pre-recorded content or to route them to agents

Etymology: Robocaller is a plain compound, built from the clipping "robo-", short for "robotic" and drawn from the "robot" family, joined to "caller," which is simply someone who places or makes calls. Its two parts were combined in the late twentieth century, when automated dialling systems that play recorded messages began flooding telephone lines. The word also has an alternative route: it can be read as "robocall" with the agent suffix "-er" added, so a robocaller is the machine or operator behind a robocall. The most useful way to see it is as a word that names the thing by its method. "Robo-" signals that a machine, not a person, does the dialling, and "caller" keeps the older telephone sense of the act. Together they describe an unattended call that pushes a prerecorded message to many numbers at once.

Synonyms: automated caller, robo-caller, spam caller