landline

American  

[land-lahyn] / ˈlændˌlaɪn /

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 landline telephone.  Also called landline phone.  a telephone that is connected by wire to a network.

4. Citizens Band Radio Slang. a telephone.

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Etymology

Origin of landline

First recorded in 1860–65; land + line ¹

Example Sentences

He recalled her knocking on his door and asking to use his landline phone.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

Wright worked with children’s digital-health nonprofit Screen Sanity to turn her daughter’s school in Leawood, Kan., into a massive landline pod.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

Many with ties to Iran are still receiving landline phone calls from inside -- "quite surprising" given the internet blackout, said Mahsa Alimardani of global rights organisation Witness.

From Barron's • Mar. 13, 2026

The work became especially difficult at the height of the protests on 8 January, when Iran's government cut off internet, mobile phone and landline access for nearly three weeks.

From BBC • Feb. 9, 2026

But when I called Gran’s vet from the old beige landline phone, I was told that she was stuck in surgery all day.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas