Library / English Dictionary

LETTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A written message addressed to a person or organization

Example:

mailed an indignant letter to the editor

Synonyms:

letter; missive

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("letter" is a kind of...):

document (anything serving as a representation of a person's thinking by means of symbolic marks)

text; textual matter (the words of something written)

Meronyms (parts of "letter"):

postscript; PS (a note appended to a letter after the signature)

address; destination; name and address (written directions for finding some location; written on letters or packages that are to be delivered to that location)

line (text consisting of a row of words written across a page or computer screen)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "letter"):

business letter (a letter dealing with business)

cover letter; covering letter (a letter sent along with other documents to provide additional information)

crank letter (a hostile (usually anonymous) letter)

encyclical; encyclical letter (a letter from the pope sent to all Roman Catholic bishops throughout the world)

fan letter (a letter that is a piece of fan mail)

personal letter (a letter dealing with personal affairs)

form letter (a letter that is printed in multiple copies and mailed to a list of recipients)

open letter (a letter of protest; addressed to one person but intended for the general public)

chain letter (a letter that is sent successively to several people)

pastoral (a letter from a pastor to the congregation)

round robin (a letter signed by a number of people)

aerogram; aerogramme; air letter; airmail letter (a letter sent by air mail)

epistle (a specially long, formal letter)

dead letter; dead mail (mail that can neither be delivered nor returned)

letter of intent (any letter expressing an intention to take (or forgo) some action)

invitation (a request (spoken or written) to participate or be present or take part in something)

Holonyms ("letter" is a part of...):

mail (the bags of letters and packages that are transported by the postal service)

correspondence (communication by the exchange of letters)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An award earned by participation in a school sport

Example:

he won letters in three sports

Synonyms:

letter; varsity letter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("letter" is a kind of...):

accolade; award; honor; honour; laurels (a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction)

Derivation:

letter (win an athletic letter)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech

Example:

his grandmother taught him his letters

Synonyms:

alphabetic character; letter; letter of the alphabet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("letter" is a kind of...):

character; graph; grapheme; graphic symbol (a written symbol that is used to represent speech)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "letter"):

ascender (a lowercase letter that has a part extending above other lowercase letters)

descender (a lowercase letter that has a part extending below other lowercase letters)

digram; digraph (two successive letters (especially two letters used to represent a single sound: 'sh' in 'shoe'))

initial (the first letter of a word (especially a person's name))

A (the 1st letter of the Roman alphabet)

B (the 2nd letter of the Roman alphabet)

C (the 3rd letter of the Roman alphabet)

D (the 4th letter of the Roman alphabet)

E (the 5th letter of the Roman alphabet)

F (the 6th letter of the Roman alphabet)

G (the 7th letter of the Roman alphabet)

H (the 8th letter of the Roman alphabet)

I (the 9th letter of the Roman alphabet)

J (the 10th letter of the Roman alphabet)

K (the 11th letter of the Roman alphabet)

L (the 12th letter of the Roman alphabet)

M (the 13th letter of the Roman alphabet)

N (the 14th letter of the Roman alphabet)

O (the 15th letter of the Roman alphabet)

P (the 16th letter of the Roman alphabet)

Q (the 17th letter of the Roman alphabet)

R (the 18th letter of the Roman alphabet)

S (the 19th letter of the Roman alphabet)

T (the 20th letter of the Roman alphabet)

U (the 21st letter of the Roman alphabet)

V (the 22nd letter of the Roman alphabet)

double-u; W (the 23rd letter of the Roman alphabet)

ex; X (the 24th letter of the Roman alphabet)

wye; Y (the 25th letter of the Roman alphabet)

ezed; izzard; Z; zed; zee (the 26th letter of the Roman alphabet)

alpha (the 1st letter of the Greek alphabet)

beta (the 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet)

gamma (the 3rd letter of the Greek alphabet)

delta (the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet)

epsilon (the 5th letter of the Greek alphabet)

zeta (the 6th letter of the Greek alphabet)

eta (the 7th letter of the Greek alphabet)

theta (the 8th letter of the Greek alphabet)

iota (the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet)

kappa (the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet)

lambda (the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet)

mu (the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet)

nu (the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet)

xi (the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet)

omicron (the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet)

pi (the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet)

rho (the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet)

sigma (the 18th letter of the Greek alphabet)

tau (the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet)

upsilon (the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet)

phi (the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet)

chi; khi (the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet)

psi (the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet)

omega (the last (24th) letter of the Greek alphabet)

aleph (the 1st letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

beth (the 2nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

gimel (the 3rd letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

daleth (the 4th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

he (the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

waw (the 6th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

zayin (the 7th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

heth (the 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

teth (the 9th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

yodh (the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

kaph (the 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

lamedh (the 12th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

mem (the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

nun (the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

samekh (the 15th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

ayin (the 16th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

pe (the 17th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

sadhe (the 18th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

qoph (the 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

resh (the 20th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

sin (the 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

shin (the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

taw (the 23rd letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

polyphone; polyphonic letter (a letter that has two or more pronunciations)

block capital; block letter (a plain hand-drawn letter)

vowel (a letter of the alphabet standing for a spoken vowel)

consonant (a letter of the alphabet standing for a spoken consonant)

Holonyms ("letter" is a part of...):

spelling (forming words with letters according to the principles underlying accepted usage)

Holonyms ("letter" is a member of...):

alphabet (a character set that includes letters and is used to write a language)

Derivation:

letter (mark letters on or mark with letters)

letter (set down or print with letters)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A strictly literal interpretation (as distinct from the intention)

Example:

he obeyed the letter of the law

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("letter" is a kind of...):

literal interpretation (an interpretation based on the exact wording)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Owner who lets another person use something (housing usually) for hire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("letter" is a kind of...):

owner; proprietor ((law) someone who owns (is legal possessor of) a business)

Derivation:

let (grant use or occupation of under a term of contract)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Mark letters on or mark with letters

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "letter" is one way to...):

write (mark or trace on a surface)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

letter (the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech)

letterer (a painter of letters)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Set down or print with letters

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "letter" is one way to...):

impress; print (reproduce by printing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

letter (the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech)

letterer (a painter of letters)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Win an athletic letter

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "letter" is one way to...):

earn; garner; win (acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

letter (an award earned by participation in a school sport)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I was at Plymouth dreading to hear of him; he sent in letters, but the Grappler was under orders for Portsmouth.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

One day my wife received a letter from America.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was with some bitterness in my heart that I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of sending letters to anybody.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

James had protested against writing to her till his return to Oxford; and Mrs. Allen had given her no hopes of a letter till she had got back to Fullerton.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Chrissie told Santa that Otis sent Santa a letter, and Santa said he got it and is saving it.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The first letter of each word in a proper name.

(Initials, NCI Thesaurus)

Now, David, you understand me, and you know what will be the consequence if you fail to obey me to the letter.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The NCI term type designation for an ISO 3166-1 standard country code in alpha-2 (two-letter) format.

(CA2 Term Type, NCI Thesaurus)

The NCI term type designation for an ISO 3166-1 standard country code in alpha-3 (three-letter) format.

(CA3 Term Type, NCI Thesaurus)

The worldwide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the uppercase and lowercase Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, and other symbols.

(ASCII, NCI Thesaurus)