variants
or less commonly hot line
plural hotlines also hot lines
1
: a usually toll-free telephone service available to the public or to a group of people for some specific purpose
a suicide prevention hotline
His take reached a total of more than $10,000, but the scam was undone when an alert co-worker noticed it and phoned an employee-theft hotline to report it.—
David J. Solomon
David J. Solomon2
: a direct telephone line in constant operational readiness so as to facilitate immediate communication
John Sullivan told the independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta that an emergency hotline between Washington and Moscow, set up in the Cold War … , was still in existence.—Reuters.com
Reuters.comWhen the Milwaukee Bucks made the emotional decision not to take the court for Game 5 of the playoffs, there was a hotline between the locker room and the NBPA [National Basketball Players Association], with [NBPA head Michele] Roberts counselling the players on the other end of that line.—Don Riddell
Don RiddellExamples of hotline in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The hotline offers crisis intervention, information, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources.
—Helena Wegner, Sacbee.com, 8 Aug. 2025
In the week after floods tore through Texas Hill Country, most survivors were unable to get through to a federal aid hotline because the Department of Homeland Security let funding lapse, according to publicly available contract records and internal FEMA call center logs obtained by NPR.
—Rebecca Hersher, NPR, 7 Aug. 2025
Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to call homicide detectives at 816-234-5043, or the TIPS hotline at 816-575-TIPS.
—Caroline Zimmerman, Kansas City Star, 6 Aug. 2025
German moved to State College in 1990 with her husband Rand, where her responsibilities at Penn State included overseeing all of student activities, major concerts on campus, the campus Crisis Center and crisis hotline, and serving as director of the AT&T Center for Service Leadership.
—News Release, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hotline
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Helena Wegner, Sacbee.com, 8 Aug. 2025
In the week after floods tore through Texas Hill Country, most survivors were unable to get through to a federal aid hotline because the Department of Homeland Security let funding lapse, according to publicly available contract records and internal FEMA call center logs obtained by NPR.
—Rebecca Hersher, NPR, 7 Aug. 2025
Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to call homicide detectives at 816-234-5043, or the TIPS hotline at 816-575-TIPS.
—Caroline Zimmerman, Kansas City Star, 6 Aug. 2025
German moved to State College in 1990 with her husband Rand, where her responsibilities at Penn State included overseeing all of student activities, major concerts on campus, the campus Crisis Center and crisis hotline, and serving as director of the AT&T Center for Service Leadership.
—News Release, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hotline
Cite this Entry
“Hotline.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hotline. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
hotline
noun
hot·line
ˈhät-ˌlīn 
: a telephone line for direct emergency use (as between heads of governments or to a counseling service)
Medical Definition
hotline
noun
hot·line
variants
also hot line
: a usually toll-free telephone service available to the public for some specific purpose (as to receive advice or information about a particular subject or to talk confidentially about personal problems to a sympathetic listener)
a poison control hotline
suicide prevention hotlines
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