Meaning of phone tag | Babel Free

Definitions

A situation in which two individuals attempting to contact each other by telephone repeatedly do not get a live person and instead trade messages, such as by voice mail.

idiomatic, uncountable

Examples

“"What frequently results is a game of phone tag. One party tries to reach another, is unable to, and leaves voice-mail indicating an interest in finding a time to meet. The other party returns the call, more often than not fails to reach the original caller, and leaves voice-mail in response."”

“"Avoid phone tag, which results when two parties go back and forth trying to reach each other by phone."”

“"To reduce the time you spend playing phone tag, ask what time the client will be in and call back then."”

CEFR level