variants:
or less commonly land line
Definition of landline
1 : a line of transportation or communication on land especially : a telephone line that transmits signals from one station to another directly along a wire without the use of radio waves It reminds me of the tipping point several years ago when people realized they no longer needed a telephone landline and would do just fine with their cell phones. — Rana Foroohar —often used before another noun a landline phone a landline network
2 : a telephone that connects by wire : a landline telephone
Of course, if you're really worried, you could ditch your cell phone for a quaint landline.— Kiera Butler
Keep scrolling for more
Test Your Vocabulary
Slippery Words Quiz—Changing with the Times
- What is an earlier meaning of nice?

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Anagram puzzles meet word search.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridgedWords at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games
Slippery Words Quiz—Changing with the Times
Do you know these earlier meanings of words?
Take the quizWords of Snow and Ice Quiz
A selection of words from the chillier parts of t...
Take the quizSpell It
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
Take the quizSCRABBLE® Sprint
SCRABBLE® fans, sharpen your skills!
Play the game
Share landline
Time Traveler for landline
The first known use of landline was in 1865
See more words from the same year