hotline

[hot-lahyn]

noun

1. Also hot line a direct telecommunications link enabling immediate communication between heads of state in an international crisis.

   the hotline between Washington and Moscow.

2. Also hot line a telephone service enabling people to talk confidentially with someone about a personal problem or crisis.

   The protective services system is anchored by a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week emergency hotline.

3. Also hot line a telephone line providing customers or clients with direct access to a company or professional service.

   If you need assistance, feel free to chat with us through our online auto parts website or give our hotline a call.

4. Chiefly Canadian.,  a radio program to which listeners can phone in comments or questions.

   The radio hotline features advice and insight from a range of bank spokespeople during tax season.

adjective

1. Chiefly Canadian.,  of or relating to a radio program to which listeners can phone in comments or questions.

hotline

/ ˈhɒtˌlaɪn /

noun

1. a direct telephone, teletype, or other communications link between heads of government, for emergency use

2. any such direct line kept for urgent use

Word History and Origins

Origin of hotline¹

First recorded in 1950–55; hot + line ¹

Example Sentences

Madylin said that she and Sullivan work with the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, noting that most who seek help do survive.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

They called the California suicide hotline, where a volunteer told them to contact his school.

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The county set up a hotline for tips from the public, and moved to ban “predatory solicitation” outside county social services offices.

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Anyone who is confused can press the video doorbell, for a hotline to Annabelle's bakery a few miles away.

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To deal with each other more effectively in the future, Kennedy and Khrushchev established a “hotline”—a direct phone line from Moscow to Washington.

Read more on Literature