Word.ws English Dictionary

line

UK/laɪn/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/lɑen/

line noun: a path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight. Also the ellipsis of line of battle.

line: a path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a...
Image: Zielu20, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

line (plural lines)

  1. A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
    • The arrow descended in a curved line.
    1. An infinitely extending one-dimensional figure that has no curvature; one that has length but not breadth or thickness.
    2. (informal) A line segment; a continuous finite segment of such a figure.
    3. An edge of a graph.
    4. A circle of latitude or of longitude, as represented on a map.
    5. ('the line' or 'equinoctial line') The equator.
    6. One of the straight horizontal and parallel prolonged strokes on and between which the notes are placed.
    7. The horizontal path of a ball towards the batsman (see also length).
    8. The goal line.
      • St Johnstone's Liam Craig had to clear off the line before Steven Anderson sent a looping header into his own net for the equaliser on 36 minutes.2011 October 1, Clive Lindsay, “Kilmarnock 1-2 St Johnstone”, in BBC Sport
    9. A particular path taken by a vehicle when driving a bend or corner in the road.
      • "I guess it's like race cars - if you get the right line you can come out at top speed."2021 February, The Road Ahead, Brisbane, page 10, column 3
  2. A rope, cord, string, thread, or cable, of any thickness.
  3. A hose, tube, or pipe, of any size.
    • a brake line
    • the main water line to the house
  4. Direction, path.
    • the line of sight
    • the line of vision
  5. A procession, either physical or conceptual, which results from the application or effect of a given rationale or other controlling principles of belief, opinion, practice, or phenomenon.
    • line of thinking
    • In order to maintain a consistency in the defense, I will follow the line established by attorney Jacobs of allowing the prosecution to suggest motives, and then refuting them.
  6. The wire connecting one telegraphic station with another, a telephone or internet cable between two points: a telephone or network connection.
    • I tried to make a call, but the line was dead.
    • a dedicated line; a shared line
  7. A clothesline.
    • We need to take the clothes off the line. The news reported a front is coming in from the east, and we can expect heavy rain and maybe hail.
    • She feels guilty for pampering him, and salves her conscience by bossily ordering him to go and fetch the clothes from the line[.]1985, Joan Morrison, Share House Blues, Boolarong Publications, page 26
  8. A short letter, a written form of communication.
    • Drop me a line.
    • You don't mind giving me a line of introduction to your niece?1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados
    Synonyms:
    epistle, letter, note
  9. A connected series of public conveyances, as a roadbed or railway track; and hence, an established arrangement for forwarding merchandise, etc.; a railroad line, railway line, Elizabeth Line etc.
    • a line of stages
    • an express line
  10. (especially) A trench or rampart, or the non-physical demarcation of the extent of the territory occupied by specified forces.
  11. The exterior limit of a figure or territory: a boundary, contour, or outline; a demarcation.
    • Eden stretch'd her Line / From Auran Eastward to the Royal Towrs / Of great Seleucia,1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, volume IV
  12. A conceptual division or distinction.
    • fine line
    • As he points out, "In a lot of these traditions, there's less of a line between art and craft."2026 May, Hannah Martin, quoting Robell Awake, “Grab a Chair”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, page 24
Show 34 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A long tape or ribbon marked with units for measuring; a tape measure.
  2. (obsolete) A measuring line or cord.
    • The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 44:13
  3. That which was measured by a line, such as a field or any piece of land set apart; hence, allotted place of abode.
    • The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 16:6
  4. A threadlike crease or wrinkle marking the face, hand, or body; hence, a characteristic mark.
  5. Lineament; feature; figure (of one's body).
  6. A more-or-less straight sequence of people, objects, etc., either arranged as a queue or column and often waiting to be processed or dealt with, or arranged abreast of one another in a row (and contrasted with a column), as in a military formation.
    • get in line
    • The line forms on the right.
    Synonyms:
    lineup, queue, tail
  7. The regular infantry of an army, as distinguished from militia, guards, volunteer corps, cavalry, artillery, etc.
  8. A series of notes forming a certain part (such as the bass or melody) of a greater work.
    • Students and the instructor sing the harmony line while the instructor plays the melody line on the piano.2015, Mícheál Houlahan, Philip Tacka, Kodály in the Third Grade Classroom
  9. A series or succession of ancestors or descendants of a given person; a family or race; compare lineage.
  10. A written or printed row of letters, words, numbers, or other text, especially a row of words extending across a page or column, or a blank in place of such text.
    • The answer to the comprehension question can be found in the third line of the accompanying text.
    Synonyms:
    row
  11. A verse (in poetry).
    • Nay if you read this line, remember not, / The hand that writ it.1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 71
  12. A sentence of dialogue, especially in a play, movie, or the like.
    • He was perfecting his pickup lines for use at the bar.
    • "It is what it is" was one of his more annoying lines.
  13. A lie, exaggeration, or spin, especially one said to gain another's approval or prevent losing it.
    • Don't feed me a line!
  14. Course of conduct, thought, occupation, or policy; method of argument; department of industry, trade, or intellectual activity.
    • He [Mackintosh] is uncommonly powerful in his own line; but it is not the line of a first-rate man.1823 April 27, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kean—Sir James Mackintosh—Sir H. Davy—Robert Smith [Robert Percy Smith?]—Canning—National Debt—Poor Laws”, in H[enry] N[elson] C[oleridge], editor, Specimens...
    • "What you mean, comparing me to them botchers and bunglers? There ain't anybody but me in the furniture restoring line."1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 77
  15. The official, stated position (or set of positions) of an individual or group, particularly a political or religious faction.
    • Remember, your answers must match the party line.
    • If that was the line, then fair enough. Albeit, a line [Julian] Nagelsmann may have wanted to run past his players before they did their post-match media duties. “2026 June 28, Jonathan Liew, “Germany trapped between past and future with team lost in identity malaise”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  16. (slang) Information about or understanding of something. (Mostly restricted to the expressions get a line on, have a line on, and give a line on.)
    • Judy gave me a line on a lawyer who's supposed to be the best in the business.
    • She's got the best line on Hickey. Maybe she knows a way to put the heart back into him.1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post
  17. A set of products or services sold by a business, or by extension, the business itself.
    • line of business, product line
    • How many buses does the line have?
  18. A number of shares taken by a jobber.
  19. Any of an ill-defined set of units of length, varying according to the country, discipline, industry, and date of application, commonly with no indication of the intended magnitude
    • Withof estimates that the hair of the beard grows one line (French) in the course of a week, let us call it one line and a half (Engish); this would amount to six inches and a half yearly...1847, Sir Erasmus Wilson, On Diseases of the Skin. Second edition
  20. (historical) A tsarist-era Russian unit of measure, approximately equal to one tenth of an English inch, used especially when measuring the calibre of firearms.
  21. One twelfth of an inch.
    • The cut is measured in thickness from a quarter of a line to a line and a half (a line is one-twelfth of an inch).1883, Alfred Swaine Taylor, Thomas Stevenson, The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence
  22. One sixteenth of an inch.
  23. One fortieth of an inch.
    • In case any of the committee do not understand what is meant by a rate per line, I may say that buttons, being very small, are not measured by the foot or inch, but by the line, a line being one-fortieth of an inch. For example, that is a 27-line button[…].1922, “Statement of James Turner, Representing Universal Button Fastening Co., Detriot, Mich.”, in Hearings Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, page 5337
  24. (historical) A maxwell, a unit of magnetic flux.
  25. (slang, with-definite-article) The batter's box.
  26. The position in which the fencers hold their swords.
    • Thus, for example, in the line of Quarte, the direct thrust is parried by dropping the point under the adversary's blade and circling upwards, throwing off the attack in the opposite line (that of Tierce), and upon the direct thrust in the line of Tierce, by a similar action throwing off the attack...1861, George Chapman, Foil Practice, with a Review of the Art of Fencing, page 12
  27. Proper relative position or adjustment (of parts, not as to design or proportion, but with reference to smooth working).
    • the engine is in line / out of line
  28. (informal) A portion or serving of a powdery recreational drug, especially cocaine, formed into a line on a flat surface in preparation for snorting.
    • I watched him take a line of cocaine.
  29. (obsolete) Instruction; doctrine.
    • Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 19:4
  30. A population of cells derived from a single cell and containing the same genetic makeup.
  31. (perfusion line) a set composed of a spike, a drip chamber, a clamp, a Y-injection site, a three-way stopcock and a catheter.
  32. A group of forwards that play together.
  33. (Australian rules football) A set of positions in a team which play in a similar position on the field; in a traditional team, consisting of three players and acting as one of six such sets in the team.
  34. (colloquial) A vascular catheter.
    • patient had a line inserted
    • line sepsis

Interjection

line

  1. Expresses that the speaker has forgotten their dialogue and needs to be prompted with it.

Verb (1)

line (third-person singular simple present lines, present participle lining, simple past and past participle lined)

  1. (transitive) To place (objects) into a line (usually used with "up"); to form into a line; to align.
    • to line troops
    • They lined up the books against the wall.
  2. (transitive) To place persons or things along the side of for security or defense; to strengthen by adding; to fortify.
    • to line works with soldiers
    • Line and new repair our towns of war With men of courage and with means defendant.1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, ii 4
  3. (transitive) To form a line along.
  4. (transitive) To mark with a line or lines; to cover with lines.
    • to line a copy book
  5. To align (one or more switches) to direct a train onto a particular track.
    • The dispatcher lined the switches at Pickle interlocking for the freight turnout to clear the train into the passing track before the express arrived.
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To represent by lines; to delineate; to portray.
    • All the pictures fairest lined Are but black to Rosalind.1598, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, iii 2
  7. (dated, transitive, now more often line out) To read or repeat line by line.
    • to line out a hymn
    • Slowly, painfully, the ten dollars was collected. The door was opened, and the gust of warm air revived us. Zeebo lined On Jordan’s Stormy Banks, and church was over.1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC
  8. (intransitive) To hit a line drive; to hit a line drive which is caught for an out. Compare fly and ground.
    • Jones lined to left in his last at-bat.
  9. (transitive) To track (wild bees) to their nest by following their line of flight.
  10. (transitive) To measure.

Noun (2)

line (plural lines)

  1. (South Korean idol fandom) A group of people born in a certain year (liners).
    • maknae line; hyung line; 97 line

Noun (3)

line (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) Flax, linen.
  2. The longer fiber(s) of flax.

Verb (2)

line (third-person singular simple present lines, present participle lining, simple past and past participle lined)

  1. (transitive) To cover the inner surface of (something), originally especially with linen.
    • to line a cloak with silk or fur
    • to line a box with paper or tin
  2. (transitive) To fill or supply (something), as a purse with money.
    • to line the shelves
    • because the charge amounteth mostly very high for any one man's purse, except lined beyond ordinary, to reach unto1602, Richard Carew, edited by Thomas Tonkin, Carew's Survey of Cornwall, published 1811, page 34

Verb (3)

line (third-person singular simple present lines, present participle lining, simple past and past participle lined)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To copulate with, to impregnate.

Noun (4) capitalized: LINE

LINE (plural LINEs)

  1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of long interspersed nuclear element, a type of retrotransposon in genomics.
  2. A close quarters combat system, see LINE (combat system) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Proper noun capitalized: Line

Line

  1. An English and Scottish surname.

Also used as

line is also the ellipsis of line of battle.

line is also the ellipsis of pick-up line.

line is also the ellipsis of agate line.

line meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

line in Hindi

rope, cord, or string
रस्सी rassī, डोरी ḍorī
path through two or more points, threadlike mark
रेखा rekhā
straight sequence of people, queue
पंक्ति paṅkti
geometry: infinite one-dimensional figure
रेखा rekhā, सरल रेखा saral rekhā

line in Tamil

poetic: verse
பாடல் அடி, கவிதை வரி pāṭal aṭi, kavitai vari

line in Marathi

रेषा

line in Urdu

path through two or more points, threadlike mark
خَط xat, لائن lāin
straight sequence of people, queue
قِطَارْ qitār
geometry: infinite one-dimensional figure
خَط xaṭ
More languagesFewer languages
line in Bengali
রেখা rekha, লাইন lain
line in Telugu
గీత gīta, వరస varasa
line in Malayalam
നേർരേഖ nēṟrēkha
line in Kannada
ಸಾಲು, ಲೈನ್, ರೇಖೆ
line in Punjabi
ਲਾਈਨ
line in Gujarati
રેખા rekhā
line in Odia
ଧାଡ଼ି, ଧାଡି, ଲାଇନ୍
line in Sanskrit
रेखा rekhā
line in Nepali
लाइन, रेखा, पङ्क्ति
line in Tagalog
linya, guhit
line in Arabic
خَطّ ḵaṭṭ, صَفّ ṣaff, سَطْر saṭr
line in Malay
garisan
line in Indonesian
baris, garis
line in Persian
خَطّ xatt, کَش kaš, سَطر satr
line in Thai
เส้น sên, เส้นตรง sên-dtrong
line in Vietnamese
đường, hàng, dòng
line in Myanmar
လိုင်း luing:
Sindhi
ريکا rekhā

Examples of line in a sentence

  • Please speak up, the line is very faint.
  • There is a line of houses.
  • The bird lines its nest with soft grass.
  • Paintings lined the walls of the cavernous dining room.
  • A band of brothers gathering round me, made, / Although unarmed, a steadfast front[…]now the line / Of war extended, to our rallying cry / As myriads flocked in love and brotherhood to die.1817, Percy Shelley, The Revolt of Islam:
  • Many have reported success shutting down the conversation with lines like these: “I'm making healthier choices.2026 January 29, Angela Haupt, “Can I Ask Someone if They’re on Ozempic?”, in TIME, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2026:

All 40 example sentences with line

Synonyms of line

All synonyms of line

Forms of line

Noun
plurallines
alternative formlin
alternative formlyne
pluralLINEs
Verb
third-person singular presentlines
present participlelining
past participlelined
pastlined

Past tense of line: lined

Plural of line: lines

Origin of line

From Middle English line, lyne, from Old English līne (“line, cable, rope, hawser, series, row, rule, direction”), from Proto-West Germanic *līnā, from Proto-Germanic *līnǭ (“line, rope, flaxen cord, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *līną (“flax, linen”), from Proto-Indo-European *līno- (“flax”). Influenced in Middle English by Middle French ligne (“line”), from Latin linea. More at linen. The oldest sense of the word is “rope, cord, thread”; from this the senses “path”, “continuous mark” were derived.

Borrowed from Korean 라인 (rain, “members with a shared characteristic”), itself from English line. Likely generalized via hyung line, maknae line, etc.

From Old English līn (“flax, linen, cloth”). For more information, see the entry linen.

Words formed from line

Phrases with line

180 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with line

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about line

What does line mean?
Line means a path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
What is line in Hindi?
Line in Hindi is रस्सी (rassī), डोरी (ḍorī), रेखा (rekhā). See Line meaning in Hindi.
How do you use line in a sentence?
Please speak up, the line is very faint.
What part of speech is line?
Line can be a noun, an interjection, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce line?
Line is pronounced /laɪn/ (UK).
What is the plural of line?
The plural of line is lines.

Words near line in the dictionary

  1. lindyhop
  2. lindyhopping
  3. lindyhops
  4. lindying
  5. lindys
  6. line
  7. line abreast
  8. line ahead
  9. line and length
  10. line art
  11. line bracelet

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: line (page history and authors); LINE (page history and authors); Line (page history and authors); line (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); line (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); line (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); line (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); line (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-line.ogg, en-au-line.ogg.

Cite this entry: “line.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/line. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.