Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

hookup

American  
[hook-uhp] / ˈhʊkˌʌp /

noun

  1. an act or instance of hooking up.

  2. an assembly and connection of parts, components, or apparatus into a circuit, network, machine, or system.

  3. the circuit, network, machine, or system so formed.

  4. a device or connection, as a plug, hose, or pipe, for conveying electricity, a water supply, etc., from a source to a user.

    Some campsites have electrical hookups for trailers.

  5. Informal. an association, alliance, or cooperative effort.

    A closer hookup of Caribbean nations would be good for international trade.

  6. Informal.

    1. a sexual encounter without a long-term commitment.

      I’m over these college boys who are only interested in meaningless hookups.

    2. a person with whom one has such an encounter.

      I ran into an old hookup at the club, but I pretended not to remember her.

  7. Slang.

    1. a supplier of illicit goods, usually drugs.

      My hookup is getting out of the game—can you introduce me to your guy?

    2. access to illegal drugs.

      When you are trying to score on the street it is easy to see who has the hookup.

Etymology

Origin of hookup

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05; noun use of verb phrase hook up

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.

A data center that no longer fits a global balance sheet becomes nothing more than a warehouse full of dead machines and a power hookup the utility still has to maintain.

From Salon • Dec. 28, 2025

It takes five to 10 years to get a grid hookup.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 28, 2025

“But the challenge that’s been identified more of lately is that last facility hookup, making sure that the facilities either have the substations, the circuits, the transformers and the time it takes to process that.”

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2024

She appeared via video hookup wearing a dark protective vest.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 8, 2023

Thanks to the coast-to-coast radio hookup, millions of people heard Marian Anderson sing that day.

From "The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights" by Russell Freedman

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.