correspondence

American  

[kawr-uh-spon-duhns, kor-] / ˌkɔr əˈspɒn dəns, ˌkɒr- /

noun

• correspondences
  plural

1. communication by exchange of letters.

2. a letter or letters that pass between correspondents.

   It will take me all day to answer this business correspondence.

3. Also an instance of corresponding.

4. similarity or analogy.

5. agreement; conformity.

   Synonyms:

   consonance, concord, accord

6. news, commentary, letters, etc., received from a newspaper or magazine correspondent.

7. Mathematics. function.

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correspondence British  

/ ˌkɒrɪˈspɒndəns /

noun

1. the act or condition of agreeing or corresponding

2. similarity or analogy

3. agreement or conformity

4. 1. communication by the exchange of letters

   2. the letters so exchanged

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncorrespondence
  noun
• precorrespondence
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• correspondences
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of correspondence

1375–1425; late Middle English (< Middle French ) < Medieval Latin corrēspondentia. See correspondent, -ence

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Explanation

Correspondence is a body of letters or communications. If you've ever had a pen pal or an email buddy, you’ve written plenty of correspondence. Besides referring to that stack of love letters you've bound up with ribbon, correspondence has a couple of other meanings, too. When you and your friend hold similar opinions about a particular subject, your thoughts are in correspondence, or "agreement." In mathematics, symmetrical objects are in correspondence — that is, they mirror each other exactly.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

correspondence correspondences

They also studied historical records, technical reports, correspondence, and other archival documents to reconstruct the reactor's capabilities and determine what would have been required for it to work.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

Now I try to slow down all complicated or heated electronic correspondence for at least a day, sometimes a weekend.

From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026

Hay highlighted that Peggie's case was funded by Sex Matters, and pointed to correspondence from the group that said the issues in the case were of "significant strategic importance".

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

FBI agents had collected voluminous corporate records and email correspondence between Navatek and Collins’ inner circle.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

It might be thought that Copernicus was responsible for the destruction of the correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Here we have the usually sweater-clad executive in a suit and tie, testifying under oath about his private correspondences, in a multitrillion-dollar trial where he’s locking horns with the richest man in the world.

From Barron's ● May 15, 2026

Especially when the correspondences between art and garment are so pleasurable—continuously surprising and poetically persuasive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026

To learn more about the state’s correspondences with the CDC, KFF Health News filed a public records request to the Texas health department.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2025

In her paper, Dr Hale chronicles terse correspondences between the museum's art director, Professor John Coolidge, and Ramsey once concerns had been raised by the duchess.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2025

That Babylonian astronomy was not the only eastern influence on Anaximander is suggested by correspondences between his model and certain elements of native Persian religion, such as those preserved in Zoroastrianism.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro

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