What does cablegram mean?
A cablegram is a message sent by submarine or long-distance telegraph cable, typically across an ocean between continents. The term arose in the mid-nineteenth century to distinguish messages carried by undersea cables from ordinary inland telegrams sent overland. Because early cable transmission was extraordinarily expensive, cablegrams were written with extreme economy — senders paid by the word and stripped every unnecessary character from their text. The word combines 'cable', referring to the insulated wire laid on the seabed, with '-gram', meaning something written. Cablegrams were central to diplomacy, journalism, and business from the laying of the first successful transatlantic cable in 1866 until cheaper technologies such as radio and telephone displaced them in the twentieth century. Today the term survives mainly in historical accounts and period literature, evoking an era when global communication was costly, deliberate, and measured in words rather than megabytes.
nounA message sent by submarine telegraph cable; a telegram transmitted across an ocean or long international distance rather than over land lines.
- A message sent by underwater or long-distance telegraph cable, especially between continents.
- The service or system of transmitting such messages (less common, historical).
"The ambassador received a confidential cablegram from the Foreign Office late that evening."
"A cablegram arrived that morning confirming her father's safe arrival in New York."
"News of the armistice reached the distant colony by cablegram within hours."
Standard plural; used when referring to multiple such messages, e.g. in historical or archival contexts.
"The archive holds thousands of diplomatic cablegrams from the 1920s."
Before satellites and fiber optics, an urgent overseas message could cost the equivalent of hundreds of dollars — word by word, letter by letter.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cablegram
Cablegram was formed in English during the nineteenth century by combining 'cable' (from Latin capulum or capere, via Old French, denoting a strong rope and later an insulated telegraph line) with the suffix '-gram' borrowed from Greek gramma, meaning 'something written'. It belongs to the same family as telegram, which likewise pairs '-gram' with a transmission medium. The word emerged shortly after the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable of 1866 made intercontinental wired messaging practical.
How cablegram is actually used
Now largely historical and somewhat formal or old-fashioned in register; the term was common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when undersea cables were the primary means of rapid intercontinental communication. Today it appears mostly in historical writing and period fiction.
Easily confused with cablegram
A telegram is any message sent by telegraph, while a cablegram specifically refers to one sent via undersea or transoceanic cable.
A radiogram is a message sent by radio, whereas a cablegram travels by physical telegraph cable.