Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
dictionary thesaurus view recents

mailbox

noun
Save Word
mail·​box | \ ˈmāl-ˌbäks How to pronounce mailbox (audio) \

Definition of mailbox

1 : a box at or near a dwelling for the occupant's mail
2 : a public box for deposit of outgoing mail
3 : a computer file in which e-mail is collected

Examples of mailbox in a Sentence

On the way to work, I dropped my letters in the corner mailbox. She checked her mailbox daily, hoping for a letter from her son.
Recent Examples on the Web In the video, Christine Przybylski, 5, skips out to the family's mailbox. — Amanda Jackson, CNN, "A five-year-old barely escaped as a coyote chased her in her front yard," 25 Sep. 2019 Private property damage, Lewis Road A resident told police on June 2 that his mailbox had been damaged sometime overnight. — Joseph Clark, cleveland.com, "Car crashes into exterior of drugstore: Olmsted Falls Police Blotter," 10 June 2019 The cluster included 16 individual mailboxes and two parcel boxes, Police Department spokesman Jason Flam said. — Chelsea Curtis, azcentral, "Cluster of mailboxes stolen from Mesa neighborhood," 16 Dec. 2019 In Denmark, the stickers were found on the mailbox of Ella and Henrik Chievitz, a Jewish couple from Silkeborg, a town located 150 miles west of Copenhagen. — Cnaan Liphshiz, sun-sentinel.com, "On Kristallnacht anniversary, yellow stars appear on Jewish sites in Scandinavia," 10 Nov. 2019 The arrest capped a week-long manhunt that started Monday when an employee for George Soros pulled a manila envelope with six American flag stamps out of the mailbox of the billionaire liberal donor’s Westchester County, N.Y., home. — Byron Tau, WSJ, "Fingerprint Leads to Arrest of Letter-Bomb Suspect in Florida," 26 Oct. 2018 Britain’s election laws are woefully out of date, written more for a time when leaflets were pushed through mailboxes, not as Facebook and other social media giants publish political ads. — BostonGlobe.com, "Clinton: UK voters must see Russian influence report - The Boston Globe," 13 Nov. 2019 Britain's election laws are woefully out of date, written more for a time when leaflets were pushed through mailboxes, not as Facebook and other social media giants publish political ads. — Danica Kirka, Fortune, "Hillary Clinton Astonished Why Britain Hasn’t Released Report on Russian Influence in UK Politics," 12 Nov. 2019 The point is to give voters a better idea of who is behind the campaign ads that inundate their mailboxes, social media feeds and TVs in the run-up to an election. — Trisha Thadani, SFChronicle.com, "SF voters pass Prop. F, the ‘Sunlight on Dark Money’ measure," 5 Nov. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mailbox.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

See More

First Known Use of mailbox

1868, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about mailbox

Time Traveler for mailbox

Time Traveler

The first known use of mailbox was in 1868

See more words from the same year

Statistics for mailbox

Last Updated

11 Jan 2020

Cite this Entry

“Mailbox.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mailbox. Accessed 23 January 2020.

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for mailbox

mailbox

noun
How to pronounce mailbox (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of mailbox

chiefly US
: a public box in which letters and packages are placed to be collected and sent out
: a private box on or near a house in which mail is placed when it is delivered
computers : a computer folder that holds e-mail

See the full definition for mailbox in the English Language Learners Dictionary

mailbox

noun
mail·​box | \ ˈmāl-ˌbäks How to pronounce mailbox (audio) \

Kids Definition of mailbox

1 : a public box in which to place outgoing letters
2 : a private box (as on a house) for the delivery of incoming letters

Keep scrolling for more

More from Merriam-Webster on mailbox

Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with mailbox

Spanish Central: Translation of mailbox

Nglish: Translation of mailbox for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of mailbox for Arabic Speakers

Comments on mailbox

What made you want to look up mailbox? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

Show Comments  Hide Comments 

WORD OF THE DAY

outlandish

Listen to the pronounciation of outlandish

out of the ordinary or unreasonable

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Test Your Vocabulary

Intact Latin Quiz

  • roman tablet
  • What did focus mean in Latin?
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ
Add Diction

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games