postal

UK[ˈpəʊstl̩]US[ˈpoʊstl̩]

adjectiveB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,184 of 15,258leans written

Postal means to do with the sending of letters and parcels. A postal service, a postal vote, postal charges.

A postal vote is one sent in rather than cast in person, and it has become the way a large share of votes are now cast. In American slang, to go postal means to lose your temper violently, from a series of shootings at postal depots in the 1980s.

Definitions of postal

1adjectivepostalTo do with the sending of letters and parcels.B2
“The postal service stopped delivering letters to the island during the storm.”

postal is a quality.

Where it comes from

From post plus -al, after French postal. Post comes from Latin positus, placed, through the relay stations of a mail route.

French
postal
English, today
postal

From post + al, modelled on French postal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

postal in the wild

During the 19th century, when the postal deliveries were made, it would often be delivered to public places.
Post office
Pursuant to the UPU's mission, each member state agrees to the same terms for conducting international postal duties.
Universal Postal Union
In some countries, a postal, telegraph and telephone (PTT) service oversees the postal system, in addition to telephone and telegraph systems.
Mail
As of February 2025, the Universal Postal Union lists 192 countries which require the use of a postal code.
Postal code
"Print the postal code in uppercase with the first three characters separated from the last three by one space.
Postal codes in Canada

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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