hotline

H4O1T1L1I1N1E1

noun

A telephone line that is always staffed and able to give immediate assistance.

“If you've got any problems with the product, ring our hotline.”

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CommonScrabble 10

Meanings

nounhotline (plural hotlines)

plural hotlines · alternative hot line

  1. A telephone line that is always staffed and able to give immediate assistance.

    If you've got any problems with the product, ring our hotline.

    4 more examples

    [M]any mobile phone companies have nuisance call hotlines, to which you can report a bully's phone number.

    2004 August 11, Catherine Nixey, “Victim support in the playground”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 29 Dec 2015

    Suicidal people can have discussions about suicide on pro-life peer-to-peer forums and hotlines without fear of judgment or intervention.

    2016 December 11, Jennings Brown, “The sordid history of the first sanctioned suicide forum”, in Daily Dot, archived from the original on 11 Dec 2016

    Tim McIntyre, executive vice president of communication for Domino’s, said in an email the company has developed other features to help disabled customers, like voice-activated ordering devices and a hotline that customers with screen-readers can use to report difficulties with the site.

    2019 December 22, Abdel Jimenez, “Software can help the blind access the internet, but not every site supports it”, in Chicago Tribune, 172nd year, number 356, section 2 (Business), page 3, column 1

    Increasing access to mental health services in remote and rural areas, where suicide rates tend to be higher, is a priority, and the 988 hotline is a useful bridge to those communities, Dr. Crawford said.

    2024 December 7, Vjosa Isai, “Canada’s 988 Crisis Hotline, a ‘Pathway to Survival,’ One Year Later”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2024
  2. A direct line between two people, especially one between heads of state to be used in an emergency.
verbhotline (third-person singular simple present hotlines, present participle hotlining, simple past and past participle hotlined)

present singular third person hotlines · participle present hotlining · participle past hotlined · past hotlined · alternative hot line

  1. To communicate over a telephone hotline.

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna telephone line that provides direct and prompt information or advice to the caller in relation to a specific subject

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Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*keHy-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*kéHidʰeti
  4. Proto-Indo-European*kéHidos
  5. Proto-Germanic*haitaz
  6. Proto-West Germanic*hait
  7. Old Englishhāt
  8. Middle Englishhot
  9. Englishhot
  10. Proto-Indo-European*līno-der.?
  11. Proto-Germanic*līną
  12. Proto-Germanic*līnǭ
  13. Proto-West Germanic*līnā
  14. Old Englishlīne
  15. Middle Englishline
  16. Englishline
  17. Englishhotline

From hot + line.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic خَطّ سَاخِن
  • خَطّ سَاخِن (ḵaṭṭ sāḵin)telephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
Bulgarian гореща линия
  • гореща линия (gorešta linija)telephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
Chinese Mandarin 熱線 /热线, 熱線 /热线
  • 熱線 /热线 (rèxiàn)telephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • 熱線 /热线 (rèxiàn)direct line between two people
Finnish päivystysnumero, palvelunumero
  • päivystysnumerotelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • palvelunumerotelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • kuuma linjadirect line between two people
French assistance téléphonique, téléphone rouge
  • assistance téléphoniquetelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • téléphone rougedirect line between two people
German Hotline
  • Hotlinetelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
Hungarian forródrót, segélyvonal
  • forródróttelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • segélyvonaltelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • forródrótdirect line between two people
Japanese ホットライン, ホットライン
  • ホットライン (hottorain)telephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • ホットライン (hottorain)direct line between two people
Korean 핫라인, 핫라인
  • 핫라인 (hannain)telephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • 핫라인 (hannain)direct line between two people
Polish infolinia
  • infoliniatelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
Russian горя́чая ли́ния, горя́чая ли́ния
  • горя́чая ли́ния (gorjáčaja línija)telephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • горя́чая ли́ния (gorjáčaja línija)direct line between two people
  • пряма́я ли́ния (prjamája línija)direct line between two people
Spanish línea directa
  • línea directatelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
Swedish heta linjen
  • heta linjentelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
Ukrainian гаря́ча лі́нія
  • гаря́ча лі́нія (harjáča línija)telephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
Vietnamese đường dây nóng, đường dây khẩn cấp
  • đường dây nóngtelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • đường dây khẩn cấptelephone line that is able to give immediate assistance
  • đường dây nóngdirect line between two people
  • đường dây khẩn cấpdirect line between two people

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

hotline. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hotline

MLA

“hotline.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hotline. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hotline,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hotline.

Source: hotline on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.