The AI-powered English dictionary
comparative more online, superlative most online
Of a system: connected (generally electrically) to a larger network.
Of a generator or power plant: connected to the grid. examples
Of a computer: actively connected to the Internet or to some other communications service. examples
Available over, or delivered from, the Internet. quotations examples
In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.
2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74
Connected to the Internet. examples
Available on a computer system, even if not networked. examples
Of a system: active, particularly building facilities (such as power) or a factory or power plant. examples
(slang) Immersed in Internet culture. (Usually modified by an intensifier such as extremely or terminally) quotations
To borrow an idiom from the extremely online, late Godard is a mood.
2019, A.O. Scott, “'The Image Book' Review: Godard Looks at Violence, and Movies”, in The New York Times
not comparable
While online; while in a running or active state, or connected to the Internet. quotations examples
Well, things are getting pretty serious right now. I mean, we chat online for, like, two hours every day so I guess you could say things are gettin' pretty serious.
2004, Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess, Napoleon Dynamite (motion picture), spoken by Kip (Aaron Ruell)
third-person singular simple present onlines, present participle onlining, simple past and past participle onlined
(computing, transitive) To bring (a system, etc.) online; to promote to an active or running state. quotations examples
The output in Listing 8-2 shows your disk group status prior to onlining the disks, the commands to online your disks, and the status after onlining.
2013, John Clarke, Oracle Exadata Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach, page 219