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

Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (123) and cellphones (648) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (223). —Victoria Balara, FOXNews.com, 2 Apr. 2025

Gen-Xers grew up as the younger siblings of the baby boomers, but the media landscape of their early adult years closely resembled that of the 1950s: a tactile analog environment of landline telephones, tube TV sets, vinyl records, glossy magazines and newspapers that left ink on your hands. —Steven Kurutz, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025

Fabrizio, Lee & Associates surveyed 600 likely voters from January 26-27, 2025, with interviews conducted by live-operator cell phone calls, live-operator landline and SMS-to-web survey. —Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 16 Feb. 2025

Emerson conducted the poll via landline and cell phones with The Hill and Inside California on Feb. 10-11. —Lia Russell, Sacramento Bee, 13 Feb. 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