A live wire is an energized conductor that poses an immediate shock hazard. While engineers use terms like line conductor or phase conductor, field crews and the public use live wire to describe any exposed wire carrying hazardous voltage. It implies the wire is hot and actively dangerous.
Watch your step around that downed pole, there's a live wire arcing in the grass.
Never assume a wire is dead just because it isn't sparking. A live wire can lie silently on dry ground until someone provides a path to earth.
Also heard as
- hot wire
Related terms
Hot
Shop word for live or energised, and in North America the everyday name for a phase conductor.
Live
Connected to a source of voltage, or describing a conductor meant to be energised in normal use.
Dead
Isolated from every source, proven free of voltage and safe to work on.
Prove dead
To test isolated equipment with a verified voltage detector and confirm no voltage before anyone touches it.