{
  "id": "fax.communication",
  "term": "fax",
  "sense": "communication",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 20,
  "arena": "lexicon_entry",
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "a message that is sent over a phone using a device that converts it into electrical signals",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "device.tool",
      "phone.electrical",
      "message.information",
      "power.energy",
      "send.communication",
      "use.application"
    ],
    "interaction": "the device uses electrical power to convert the message into signals that the phone transmits",
    "novel_properties": [
      "transmitted message in signal form",
      "remote synchronous delivery",
      "analog encoding of information"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The 1989 fax transmission of the Berlin Wall's fall was relayed globally within minutes.",
      "domain": "history"
    },
    {
      "text": "Hospitals used fax machines to send patient records to insurers before digital systems replaced them.",
      "domain": "healthcare"
    },
    {
      "text": "The 1991 Gulf War ceasefire terms were faxed from Washington to Baghdad via satellite link.",
      "domain": "military"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "fax",
    "faxed",
    "faxes",
    "faxing"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "definition",
      "note": "Added missing constitutive concepts from definition; updated definition slightly for accuracy and consistency without changing intent."
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-fax.communication"
}