philatelist

noun phi·lat·e·list \ fə-ˈla-tə-list \

|Updated on: 26 Jun 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of philatelist

: a specialist in philately : one who collects or studies stamps

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Recent Examples of philatelist from the Web

As Piazza points out, stamp collectors don’t actually consider the Inverted Jennys to be particularly rare–100 stamps is a sizeable amount within the world of philatelists.

— daniel fernandez, Smithsonian, "How the Inverted Jenny, a 24-Cent Stamp, Came to Be Worth a Fortune," 15 May 2018
Among the many philatelists, Robey was the lucky one.

— daniel fernandez, Smithsonian, "How the Inverted Jenny, a 24-Cent Stamp, Came to Be Worth a Fortune," 15 May 2018
Hundreds of philatelists - those who collect or study stamps - will be coming to Birmingham this weekend for AmeriStamp Expo 2018, an event that will include displays of rare postage.

— kent faulk, AL.com, "Want to see the stamp worth $1 million?," 20 Feb. 2018
Sphero has already announced a robot to represent the new BB-9E character and, sometime this month, philatelists can also look forward to the British Royal Mail’s release of special Star Wars stamps.

— david meyer, Fortune, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," 9 Oct. 2017
Philatelists may be thrilled to see one of the only full sheets of the first-ever postage stamp, the Penny Black.

— jill lawless, Detroit Free Press, "Mail Rail lets tourists visit London's secret postal railway," 29 July 2017
Philatelists may be thrilled to see one of the only full sheets of the first-ever postage stamp, the Penny Black.

— jill lawless, Detroit Free Press, "Mail Rail lets tourists visit London's secret postal railway," 29 July 2017
Philatelists may be thrilled to see one of the only full sheets of the first-ever postage stamp, the Penny Black.

— jill lawless, The Seattle Times, "Mail Rail lets tourists visit London’s secret postal railway," 27 July 2017
Keen philatelists have also drawn attention to North Korea's apparent fondness for depicting cute kittens.

— oscar holland, CNN, "Stamp depicting warheads pointed at Capitol Hill features in the latest designs from North Korea," 16 July 2017

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

Did You Know?

The first postage stamps were made available on May 1, 1840, in England, and it didn't take long for the hobby of stamp collecting to arise. Within a year, a young London lady was letting it be known in a newspaper advertisement that she was "desirous of covering her dressing room with cancelled postage stamps". Philately has been alive and well ever since, though modern philatelists—including rock stars, English kings, and American presidents—are more likely to put the stamps they collect in special albums.