hotline

noun

hot·​line ˈhät-ˌlīn 

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

2

: 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

When 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

Examples of hotline in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Almost a quarter of Oregon calls to the mental health crisis hotline have gone unanswered so far this year. —Meira Gebel, Axios, 12 July 2024

But the calls coming into the 101 emergency hotline in those minutes are different and become increasingly dramatic moment by moment. —Noam Barkan, Sun Sentinel, 11 July 2024

Owners may also contact NHTSA's safety hotline at [phone] (toll-free at 1-800-424-9153) or go to www.nhtsa.gov for further information. —Anne Marie Lee, CBS News, 10 July 2024

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to call Cal Fire at 530-538-7888 or the statewide arson hotline at 800-468-4408. —Vincent Medina, Sacramento Bee, 5 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1954, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids 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

ˈhät-ˌlīn 

: 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