cable
noun
a heavy, strong rope.
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cable
1 American
[key-buhl]
/ ˈkeɪ bəl /
noun
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cables
plural
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a heavy, strong rope.
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a very strong rope made of strands of metal wire, as used to support cable cars or suspension bridges.
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a cord of metal wire used to operate or pull a mechanism.
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Nautical.
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a thick hawser made of rope, strands of metal wire, or chain.
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Electricity. an insulated electrical conductor, often in strands, or a combination of electrical conductors insulated from one another.
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Architecture. one of a number of reedings set into the flutes of a column or pilaster.
verb (used with object)
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cables,
present (3rd person singular)
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cabled,
past participle, past
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cabling
present participle
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to send (a message) by cable.
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to send a cablegram to.
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to fasten with a cable.
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to furnish with a cable.
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to join (cities, parts of a country, etc.) by means of a cable television network.
The state will be completely cabled in a few years.
verb (used without object)
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cables,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cabled,
past participle, past
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cabling
present participle
-
to send a message by cable.
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to cable-stitch.
Cable
2
American
[key-buhl]
/ ˈkeɪ bəl /
noun
cable
British
/ ˈkeɪbəl /
noun
-
a strong thick rope, usually of twisted hemp or steel wire
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nautical an anchor chain or rope
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a unit of distance in navigation, equal to one tenth of a sea mile (about 600 feet)
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Also called: cable length. cable's length. a unit of length in nautical use that has various values, including 100 fathoms (600 feet)
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a wire or bundle of wires that conducts electricity See also coaxial cable
a submarine cable
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Also called: overseas telegram. international telegram. cablegram. a telegram sent abroad by submarine cable, radio, communications satellite, or by telephone line
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See cable stitch
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short for cable television
verb
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to send (a message) to (someone) by cable
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(tr) to fasten or provide with a cable or cables
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(tr) to supply (a place) with or link (a place) to cable television
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cablesimple
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cablessimple
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have cabledperfect
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has cabledperfect
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am cablingprogressive
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are cablingprogressive
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is cablingprogressive
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have been cablingperfect progressive
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has been cablingperfect progressive
Past
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cabledsimple
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had cabledperfect
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was cablingprogressive
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were cablingprogressive
-
had been cablingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cable
1175–1225; Middle English, probably < Old North French *cable < Late Latin capulum lasso; compare Latin capulāre to rope, halter (cattle), akin to capere to take
Explanation
A cable can be a strong and thick hemp or steel rope, or a conductor for sending electrical or optical signals. Cable has a bunch of meanings — ranging from communication cables to steel cables. With new online services that stream your favorite show on demand, cable television may become a thing of the past. If your adventurous kids have convinced you to install a zip line, then you better find a steel cable. In the age of email, chances are you'll never have a reason to send someone an overseas cable.
Vocabulary lists containing cable
Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 1
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Journalism
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Given nearly every household in America had a cable subscription during ESPN’s heyday, that equated to many billions of dollars in extremely high-margin revenue to Disney, delivered reliably and predictably every single year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Myelin acts much like the insulating material around an electrical cable.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
Carville’s reputation for colorful turns of phrase, and his tendency to stomp on any calls for the party to move left, made him a favorite of cable news programmers looking to make entertaining television.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
California regulators have approved the sale of Cox Communications to cable giant Charter Communications — the final hurdle in a marathon review to clear the $34.5-billion cable consolidation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
“I’ve been on a cable car, but not that often. They run on the other side of the city.”
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
Cable internet providers such as Cox or Xfinity have cheaper plans in many regions, but upload and download speeds are not as fast as with fiber.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
Cable and broadband stocks are out of favor due to heightened competition in broadband—their most important business.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
Initially, the Cable News Network struggled to draw viewers, but that changed with the Persian Gulf War, when Turner’s investment in international journalism paid off.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
In 1980, Turner launched Cable News Network as the first dedicated rolling news channel, which soon became a central part of the media landscape.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
Dr. Cable ignored the sob that had cut through Tall/s words.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
Subsea internet cables, which may run for thousands of kilometres beneath oceans, are occasionally damaged by ship anchors.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Reducing the need for those microwave connections could therefore address two challenges at once: the enormous hardware requirements of large quantum computers and the unwanted noise that cables can introduce into quantum systems.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
“Taiwan is one of the very few places in the world where someone tries to sever its undersea cables on a daily basis,” said a senior Taiwan security official.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
There’d be supporting towers on park property, with cables dangling overhead, and a gondola station just outside the park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Ellsberg and other staff members were gathered with John McNaughton in his office, reading the latest cables and waiting for the president’s announcement.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
The author himself permitted an American actor who cabled to him in 1899 to ask his permission to take a creative liberty with his signature hero.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2025
Q: My wife has a 5-year-old Dell laptop cabled to our router and a 2007 Brother printer.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 26, 2022
Mr. Bondarev, part of the team working on arms control and disarmament at Russia’s Geneva mission, said he had seen misleading information cabled to Moscow in recent weeks.
From New York Times ● May 23, 2022
The van has a wifi system, which involves a router being cabled to an antenna on the van's roof that links up to satellites.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2021
The information was cabled to headquarters in Moscow, which reported that the technical details were of “great interest.”
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
If I were running a brand in the data-center space, I’d be in that community posting behind-the-scenes shots of my meticulously organized cabling and watching the comments roll in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
"This is all one big unit, meaning we can't just replace the front charge port. We have to replace the charger itself, the inverter, and some of the cabling", he explains.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
They also integrated the required electronics, cabling, structural supports, and measurement tools.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 27, 2026
They said that AI can do the “opposite” of what automation does, and “generate demand for novel human expertise” like electrical installation or fiber-optic cabling.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026
The door was surrounded by things like cabling, hooks and the plates that linked the bare-bones machinery of the door hydraulics with the more aesthetic wall coverings of the large cargo room.
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
