helpline

noun

help·​line ˈhelp-ˌlīn 

 Southern often  ˈhep-,

 also  ˈheəp-

variants or less commonly help line

plural helplines also help lines

: a phone service providing help or assistance: such as

a

: a telephone service that is usually available to the public and that provides advice, support, resources, etc. for some specific purpose (such as crisis intervention)

a free/confidential/24-hour helpline

He's also a peer support specialist for DeQH, a helpline for South Asian LGBTQ people.

—Rose Brennan

Calls to state addiction help lines have risen, as have alcohol use, drug overdoses and relapse rates, experts have said.

—Steve Janoski

… helpline volunteers offer support and basic information, locate treatment options in your area, and can help you find answers to any questions you may have.

—Radhika Menon

b

: a customer service line to provide support (such as technical support) for a product, service, etc.

Before making your purchase, phone the software vendor's customer helpline to make sure customer representatives are knowledgeable.

—Eric Berg

A user's guide, software documentation, and telephone helpline are included.

—Carol Tenopir

All week, Mata and other staffers have spent hours calling help lines set up by drug plan providers, only to get constant busy signals.

—Nicole Foy

Examples of helpline in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

To ensure that young people keep reaching out for help, more support resources are needed, Thorn's survey said, including helplines and legal aid. —Tim Stevens, Ars Technica, 3 Mar. 2025

On the tenant side, Nomad also offers rent reporting to improve credit scores and access to a maintenance helpline. —Max Scheinblum, The Denver Post, 27 Feb. 2025

For more mental health resources, including alternate crisis helplines that will not alert the police, see the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM) support page. —Mark Gurarie, Verywell Health, 27 Feb. 2025

Now, after Trump’s comment and actions on the first day of his presidency, the group’s crisis helpline is once again receiving a torrent of calls. —David Gilbert, WIRED, 24 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for helpline

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