inbox

noun

in·​box ˈin-ˌbäks 

variants or in-box

plural inboxes or in-boxes

1

: a box or tray (as on a desk) for holding incoming interoffice mail

2

: a computer folder devoted to incoming email

One of my favorite rituals soon became scanning our email inbox, looking for your photographs … and reading the letters you sent …

—Amy Virshup

Examples of inbox in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Sign up here to get it in your inbox. —Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 25 Mar. 2026

Sign up to receive it in your inbox. —Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2026

Also, click here to subscribe to our newsletter bringing our top stories of the week straight to your inbox. —Ronnie Li, USA Today, 25 Mar. 2026

Have the latest Reality Checks delivered to your inbox with our free newsletter. —Jack Harvel, Kansas City Star, 25 Mar. 2026

To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here. —Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. 2026

Get Morning Squawk directly to your inbox The Morning Squawk newsletter by Alex Harring is your rundown of five things to know before the stock market opens. —Alex Harring, CNBC, 24 Mar. 2026

Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. —Richard A. Webster, ProPublica, 24 Mar. 2026

Sign up today for a weekly math essay and puzzle in your email inbox. —Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 24 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1958, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

in-box

noun

ˈin-ˌbäks 

: a receptacle for incoming letters between offices in an organization

also : a computer folder for incoming email