online

adjective

on·​line ˈȯn-ˈlīn  ˈän-ˈlīn 

: connected to, served by, or available through a system and especially a computer or telecommunications system (such as the Internet)

an online database

also : done while connected to such a system

online shopping

online games

online searching

online adverb

Examples of online in a Sentence

The city libraries are all online.

He likes to engage in online chats.

Recent Examples on the Web

Smith was booked into the Lonoke County jail on the felony charge, then released around noon Friday, according to an online inmate roster. —Rafael Escalera Montoto, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2025

The attack on Transport for London resulted in outages of the agency’s internal services and online services but not its transportation services. —Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 19 Sep. 2025

Schweers openly shared her journey battling multiple sclerosis and infertility to her online community, documenting the highs, the lows, everything. —Essence, 19 Sep. 2025

Ever since, the ruling has put the onus on retailers and brands to police online marketplaces themselves, conduct test buys to find counterfeit products and submit requests to have the items taken down. —Gabrielle Fonrouge,paige Tortorelli, CNBC, 19 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for online

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

Kids Definition

online

adjective

ˈȯn-ˈlīn,

ˈän-

: relating to or connected to a computer or telecommunications system (as the Internet)

an online database

online adverb