snail mail

noun

1

informal : mail delivered by a postal system especially when contrasted with email : mail sense 1a

I avoid using e-mail to complain. I use the phone or old-fashioned snail mail.

—Arlene Silverman

2

informal : a nation's postal system : mail sense 2

The others have taken the traditional route: sending checks by snail mail.

—Stephen Gandel

Synonyms

• mail
• parcel post
• correspondence

Examples of snail mail in a Sentence

She still uses snail mail for paying bills.

I can be contacted by e-mail and snail mail.

Recent Examples on the Web

Be wary of mailbox communications: Bad actors may also try to scam you through snail mail. —Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 15 June 2025

Frey said that given the decline of snail mail and USPS consolidation, the agency might become more willing to give it up. —Nick Halter, Axios, 11 Mar. 2025

Loan servicers will also send multiple notices — by email, snail mail or phone — to borrowers who are delinquent and increasingly at risk of going into default, Buchanan says. —Rachel Treisman, NPR, 23 Apr. 2025

If a question on astronomy or space is received either via email or snail mail, it will usually be forwarded to me for a response. —Joe Rao, Space.com, 25 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1982, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for snail mail

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

Kids Definition

snail mail

noun

informal

1

: mail delivered by a postal system

2

: mail entry 1 sense 4