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 of snail mail

• 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

While many important tax documents are still sent out on physical paper, people increasingly are opting out of snail mail these days. —ABC News, 15 Apr. 2026

You will then be asked to provide a notice ID and confirmation code, which can only be obtained from an official settlement email or snail mail notice. —Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 8 Apr. 2026

That might mean sending snail mail like Manaois or finding another way to share what's unique about you. —Sarah Jackson, CNBC, 17 Mar. 2026

In the end, the public voted via snail mail for a person who embodied perhaps the exact opposite of both — Miskel Spillman, an elderly widow whose first plane ride ever brought her to New York City to stand beside her fellow finalists. —Sandra Gonzalez, CNN Money, 30 Jan. 2026

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