cable car
Americannoun
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cable cars
plural
noun
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a cabin suspended from and moved by an overhead cable in a mountain area
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a cableway
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a passenger car on a cable railway
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cable car
An Americanism dating back to 1870–75
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.
Imagine a stopped cable car sitting at the top of a steep hill in San Francisco.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
The Castello d’Albertis-Montegalletto line is called an elevator, or “ascensore,” but its small cabins are a combination of funicular, cable car and outdoor elevator that travel a vertical distance of around 250 feet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
"Hanging by a Wire" tells the story of the nail-biting race to save schoolboys dangling from a stranded cable car in the Himalayan foothills.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
Iconic Angels Flight, the over 100-year-old funicular cable car, is moving its final service from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m. until the curfew ends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2025
I had asked Sister Pat about the bus and cable car.
From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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.
