email

1 of 2

noun

ˈē-ˌmāl 

variants or e-mail

1

: a means or system for transmitting messages electronically (as between computers on a network)

communicating by email

2

a

: messages sent and received electronically through an email system

receives a lot of email

b

plural emails or e-mails : an email message

sent him an email

email

2 of 2

verb

variants or e-mail

emailed or e-mailed; emailing or e-mailing; emails or e-mails

transitive verb

1

: to send email to (someone)

She emailed her mom.

2

: to send (something) by email

I'll email the documents tomorrow.

intransitive verb

: to communicate by email

As I write this, a colleague who takes an amateur interest in tracking the weather emailed to say it would be "among the hottest days of 2019 so far, if not #1."

—Nina Metz

Examples of email in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

About 50 employees signed off on an email to leadership expressing concerns and providing suggestions, such as evaluating clutter and removing items like pillows that are hotspots for the insects. — Corey Schmidt, Sacbee.com, 3 Oct. 2026

An email sent to the High Meadow director was not immediately answered. — Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026

Verb

After McCartney emailed Collins to sort things out, the Genesis musician didn’t reply. — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 3 Oct. 2026

Van Houten did not immediately respond Thursday night to emailed requests for comment. — Marlene Lenthang, NBC news, 2 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

electronic mail

First Known Use

Noun

1979, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1983, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing email

• junk email

Rhymes for email

• airmail
• assail
• avail
• bewail
• blackmail
• cattail
• cocktail
• curtail
• derail
• detail
• dovetail
• entail

Kids Definition

email

noun

variants or e-mail

ˈē-ˌmāl 

1

: a system for sending messages between computers

2

a

: messages sent through an email system

receives a lot of email

b

: an email message

sent him an email

email verb

or e-mail

emailer

-ˌmāl-ər

noun

or e-mailer