landline

[ land-lahyn ]

noun

1. a circuit of wire or cable connecting two ground locations.
2. a telecommunications line, service, or connection that uses wire running over land or underground to connect to a network:

   telegraph and telephone landlines.

3. Also called land·line tel·e·phone [land, -lahyn , tel, -, uh, -fohn],. a telephone that is connected by wire to a network. Compare smartphone ( def ), dumbphone ( def ).
4. Citizens Band Radio Slang. a telephone.

Word History and Origins

Origin of landline¹

First recorded in 1860–65; land + line ¹

Example Sentences

Faxing is another standard tool that comes with a multifunction printer, though faxing is slowly becoming a business function of the past due to a decrease in landline popularity.

From Popular-Science

When Glenda called the number back from the room’s landline, it turned out to be Varahn, who announced that she was moving out the next day and promised to stop by in September “to pass the torch.”

From ProPublica

Some older voters still primarily use a landline, but 96 percent of Americans reported owning a cellphone in 2019, according to Pew Research.

From FiveThirtyEight

For six months, 12 million people had no internet, no cable TV, and for some of that time, no cellphones or even landlines.

From MIT Technology Review

The shutdown was total—no mobile internet, broadband, landlines, or cable TV.

From MIT Technology Review

Below that light was a small desk with a black landline telephone.

From The Daily Beast

During one late-evening delivery, when he saw the office was mostly empty, he asked if he could use the landline.

From The Daily Beast

On one day alone in 2006, a News International landline made 24 hacking calls to royal aides and rival journalists.

From The Daily Beast

The move is an acknowledgment that the landline business is largely dead and the mobile phone has saturated the world.

From The Daily Beast

Meanwhile, voice—i.e., landline telephone service—also seems to have peaked.

From The Daily Beast