landline

noun

land·​line ˈland-ˌlīn 

variants or less commonly land line

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

Examples of landline in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By 2023, 76 percent of adults and 87 percent of children lived in homes without landlines, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. —Rachael O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 May 2025

Dudley said the bills also piled up while her mother’s landline was down. —Jasmine Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2025

Nancy shared a sweet story about an interaction with the late Eddie Van Halen that involved an acoustic guitar, a hotel landline and the guitarist’s musical aptitude. —Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 3 June 2025

In 2016, Verizon completed a $10.5 billion deal to sell its TV and internet landline businesses in California, Texas and Florida to Frontier. —Todd Spangler, Variety, 16 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1865, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for landline

• affine
• airline
• align
• aline
• assign
• baseline
• beamline
• benign
• bloodline
• bovine
• byline
• canine

Kids Definition

landline

noun

land·​line -ˌ(d)līn 

: a line of communication (as by telephone) consisting of a cable laid on land