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.

---

Etymology

Origin of landline

First recorded in 1860–65; land + line ¹

Example Sentences

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

From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 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

He told the court he had never worked for ANL, had never been involved in landline tapping, and that he "never carried out unlawful information gathering for ANL".

From BBC • Mar. 23, 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

I don’t remember the last time I picked up a landline.

From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed