Offline

How to spell offline

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce offline

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does offline mean?

1. adjectiveNot connected to or available through a computer network or the internet.
2. adverbIn a state of being disconnected from a network, or away from electronic communication.

Offline in a sentence

• adjective

  The spreadsheet is stored as an offline copy on the laptop.

• adverb

  The payment system went offline for two hours during the upgrade.

• adjective

  The app keeps an offline version of the map for use abroad.

• adverb

  She takes the weekend offline to rest from email.

Where does offline come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Offline is a modern English compound built from the everyday words 'off' and 'line', where 'line' carries its long-established sense of a communication channel, the same 'line' found in telephone and telegraph use from the 1800s. The combination first appeared in the world of computing and telecommunications around the middle of the twentieth century, originally describing equipment that was not actively connected to, or controlled by, a central system. As home computers and then the internet spread, the meaning broadened to cover anything disconnected from a network. Both 'off' and 'line' descend from Old English roots: 'off' from 'of', meaning away or from, and 'line' ultimately from Latin 'linea', a flax thread or string, by way of Old English. The chief spelling point is simply that modern usage now writes it as one solid word, without the older hyphen of 'off-line'.

How the word is built

• off (away, disconnected)
• line (a communication or network connection)