Word.ws English Dictionary

red line

/ˌɹɛd ˈlaɪn/

red line noun: the thick red line on the ice which divides the rink in half.

red line: the thick red line on the ice which divides the rink in half
Image: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

red line (plural red lines)

  1. The thick red line on the ice which divides the rink in half.
  2. (figuratively) A boundary or limit which should not be crossed.
    • The administration’s ultimatum now seems like cheap talk, and it illustrates the risks of carelessly drawing red lines and issuing highly public threats that won’t be enforced.2013 May 4, Daniel Byman, “Mr. Obama, Don’t Draw That Line”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    • After a failed attempt by ministers to bounce the union into an agreement by announcing its terms (which included all sorts of union red lines such as drivers having to pay for their own training) in the media rather than over the negotiation table, there is an understandable reluctance on the part...2023 September 6, Christian Wolmar, “Rail strikes: little prospect of negotiations”, in RAIL, number 991, page 44
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see red, line.

red line meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Arabic and Vietnamese

red line in Hindi

a boundary or limit which should not be crossed
लाल रेखा lāl rekhā

red line in Tamil

காப்புக் கோடு

red line in Arabic

a line dividing ice rink in half
خَطّ أَحْمَر ḵaṭṭ ʔaḥmar
a boundary or limit which should not be crossed
خَطّ أَحْمَر ḵaṭṭ ʔaḥmar

red line in Vietnamese

a boundary or limit which should not be crossed
lằn ranh đỏ

Examples of red line in a sentence

  • “Now that the red line of overt and direct strikes on Iran’s soil has turned pink, Israel is playing to its own strength and exploiting Iran’s conventional weakness,” [Ali Vaez] adds.2024 October 28, Scott Peterson, “Israeli strikes inside Iran cross a threshold. How will Iran respond?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
  • “We’ve made very clear what our red lines are,” Mr.2026 April 12, Tyler Pager, David E. Sanger, “What Now? Vance Leaves Iran Talks Without a Deal.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms of red line

pluralred lines

Words that rhyme with red line

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about red line

What does red line mean?
Red line means the thick red line on the ice which divides the rink in half.
What is red line in Hindi?
Red line in Hindi is लाल रेखा (lāl rekhā). See Red line meaning in Hindi.
How do you use red line in a sentence?
“Now that the red line of overt and direct strikes on Iran’s soil has turned pink, Israel is playing to its own strength and exploiting Iran’s conventional weakness,” [Ali Vaez] adds.
What part of speech is red line?
Red line is a noun.
How do you pronounce red line?
Red line is pronounced /ˌɹɛd ˈlaɪn/.
What is the plural of red line?
The plural of red line is red lines.

Words near red line in the dictionary

  1. red light cameras
  2. red light district
  3. red light districts
  4. red light, green light
  5. red lights
  6. red line
  7. Red Liner
  8. Red Liners
  9. red lines
  10. red link
  11. red links

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: red line (page history and authors); red line (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-red line.wav.

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