Meaning of letter in English

letter

noun [ C ]

/ˈlet.ər/ us

/ˈlet̬.ɚ/

letter noun [C] (MESSAGE)

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a written message from one person to another, usually put in an envelope and sent by post:

letter from I got a letter from the bank this morning.

Synonyms

communication formal
dispatch 
epistle formal
message  (INFORMATION)
missive

More examplesFewer examples

He read her letter aloud to the rest of the family.
I folded the letter in half and put it in an envelope.
We try to answer readers' letters as promptly as we can.
In those days people used to write a lot more letters.
I had a lovely, long, chatty letter from my friend this morning.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Letters, notes and cards

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letter noun [C] (SYMBOL)

any of the set of symbols used to write a language, representing a sound in the language:

the letter D

the letter of the law formal

the exact words of the law and not its more important general meaning:

She abided by the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law.

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What letter does it start with?
How many letters are there in the alphabet?
Z is the last letter of the alphabet.
Our names all start with the letter P.
Letter S is the longest letter in the English dictionary.

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Lettering & alphabets

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letter noun [C] (PRIZE)

a prize in the shape of the first letter of the name of a high school or university, given to a student for achievement in sport and sometimes other activities, and often worn on a special jacket or sweater:

earn a letter A naturally gifted athlete, he earned four letters in basketball and two more in baseball in high school.

win a letter Her mission was to win a letter in basketball by the time she was a senior in high school.

varsity letter He earned varsity letters in both wrestling and track and field.

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She won a letter in tennis at the university.
Students receive 5 points for an award received in the activity, like an athletic letter or a writing prize.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Prizes, rewards and medals

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Idiom

to the letter

letter

adjective [ before noun ]

/ˈlet.ər/ us

/ˈlet̬.ɚ/

used to refer to a standard size of paper in the US, 8.5 inches by 11 inches:

Fliers are usually printed either on letter size or legal size paper.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Publishing: paper & stationery

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Mass, area, weight & volume in general

letter

verb [ I ]

uk/ˈlet.ər/ us/ˈlet̬.ɚ/

If a student letters in a particular sport, they are given a prize for achievement in sport in the shape of the first letter of the name of their high school or university, which is often worn on a special jacket or sweater:

letter in She lettered in three varsity sports in high school.

Twelve juniors lettered for the Tigers last season.

More examplesFewer examples

She was president of her high school class all four years and lettered in several sports.
He was the first UCLA student to letter in four sports (baseball, football, basketball, and athletics) in a single year.
She was a three-sport star, lettering in football, tennis, and basketball.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Prizes, rewards and medals

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(Definition of letter from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

letter | American Dictionary

letter

noun [ C ]

/ˈlet̬·ər/

letter noun [C] (MESSAGE)

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a written or printed message from one person to another, usually put in an envelope and delivered as mail:

I got a letter from the bank this morning.

letter noun [C] (SYMBOL)

any of the set of symbols used to write a language, in many languages, representing a sound in the language:

She wrote her name on the board in large letters.

(Definition of letter from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

letter | Business English

letter

noun [ C ]

/ˈletər/ us

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COMMUNICATIONS

a written message from one person to another, usually put in an envelope and sent by mail:

by letter You will receive an acknowledgement by letter.

get/receive a letter (from sb) I got a letter from my lawyer this morning.

deliver/post/send a letter I sent a letter about the problem to HQ last week.

draft/write/sign a letter The letter was signed by the managing director.

reply to/acknowledge/answer a letter I wrote to the company but they did not even acknowledge my letter.

a confirmation/rejection/warning letter You will receive a confirmation letter within 10 working days.

an accompanying/a covering letter Please find enclosed my CV and a covering letter.

a formal/an informal letter He wrote a formal letter of resignation.

The letter was addressed to John Clarke.

a letter dated 3rd March 2010

any of the set of symbols used to write a language, representing a sound in the language:

the letter D

an upper-case/lower-case letter (= A/a or B/b)

the letter of the law formal

LAW

the exact words of a law and not its more important general meaning:

The bank was operating within the letter of the law.

to the letter

if you obey instructions or rules to the letter, you do exactly what you have been told to do, giving great attention to every detail:

I followed the instructions to the letter and it still went wrong.

Examples of letter

letter

Let us explore the figures and the letters, as morphemes-and-graphemes of sense, visual text.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He went on to give examples, adding to those he had discussed in previous letters.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Does the fact that letters precede mimesis make them an exception to its order?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the text the closing reference to "dead letters" can be read as preceding both specular and figurative models.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the accidental juxtaposition of these two letters, an important connection may stand revealed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One-half of the pairs were identical, and one-half were different because of a change in one of the letters or line segments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Without a fixed standard of pronunciation, people before the introduction of letters pronounced their words in innumerably different ways.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Other letters were written by pastors sent out in response to such requests, reporting their progress and appealing for further help.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

By late summer 1798, he had found enough letters to make a prominent feature of them in the edition.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There were seventeen, none of which had ever been published before; they comprised the largest single collection of the poet's letters he would ever find.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The second volume, however, had a number of letters as well as an unfinished play to make the required length.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Initially, an entry in a reading lexicon which matches the sequence of letters that one has detected is located.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Another patient could name letters but could not sound them out, suggesting a problem at the level of grapheme to phoneme assignment.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The letters are first" parsed" into their appropriate graphemic units.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The editor reserves the right to shorten letters.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of letter

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with letter

letter

These are words often used in combination with letter.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

angry letter

I have not had one single angry letter, or not angry letter, from any organisation about my amendments since they were tabled, which was quite a long time ago.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

anonymous letter

Any anonymous letter had to be examined.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

bold letters

The most important addition is the insertion of short highlights and conclusions in bold letters throughout the text, on almost every page.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with letter

What is the pronunciation of letter?

Translations of letter

in Spanish

carta, letra, carta [feminine…

in Portuguese

carta [feminine], letra [feminine]…

in more languages

in Marathi

in Japanese

in Turkish

in French

in Catalan

in Dutch

in Tamil

in Hindi

in Gujarati

in Danish

in Swedish

in Malay

in German

in Norwegian

in Urdu

in Ukrainian

in Telugu

in Bengali

in Czech

in Indonesian

in Thai

in Vietnamese

in Polish

in Korean

in Italian

पत्र, मुळाक्षर…

手紙, 文字, 手紙（てがみ）…

mektup, harf…

lettre [feminine], lettre…

carta, lletra…

letter, brief…

ஒரு நபரிடமிருந்து இன்னொருவருக்கு எழுதப்பட்ட செய்தி, வழக்கமாக ஒரு உறை போட்டு தபால் மூலம் அனுப்பப்படும், ஒரு மொழியை எழுத பயன்படும் சின்னங்களின் தொகுப்பில் ஏதேனும்…

पत्र, अक्षर…

પત્ર, અક્ષર, કક્કો…

bogstav, brev…

bokstav, brev…

huruf, surat…

der Buchstabe, der Brief…