typewriter

American  

[tahyp-rahy-ter] / ˈtaɪpˌraɪ tər /

noun

• typewriters
  plural

1. a machine for writing mechanically in letters and characters like those produced by printers' types.

2. Printing. a type style that gives the appearance of typewritten copy.

3. Older Use. a typist.

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typewriter British  

/ ˈtaɪpˌraɪtə /

noun

1. a keyboard machine for writing mechanically in characters resembling print. It may be operated entirely by hand ( manual typewriter ) or be powered by electricity ( electric typewriter )

2. printing a style of type resembling typescript

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• typewriters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of typewriter

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70; type + writer

Explanation

A typewriter is an old-fashioned machine for printing letters, school assignments, and other written works. Each key on a typewriter prints a single letter, number, or symbol in ink on a piece of paper. There are similarities between a computer keyboard and a typewriter — you use both by pressing one key at a time. But instead of watching a cursor move across a screen as you type (moving backwards easily, automatically deleting mistakes), a typewriter makes a physical mark on paper. Instead of printing your letter out (or emailing it), when you use a typewriter, you create the final product as you go, simply pulling it out of the typewriter when you finish.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

typewriter typewriters

By 1985 Silicon Valley had shrunk the receiver to the size of a typewriter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

In my office: an Underwood No. 5 typewriter and a hockey puck in a Plexiglas case — the actual puck from the only goal I ever scored playing college hockey, in 1977.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

Other highlights include the manual typewriter she used to write her correspondence and autobiography, jewellery, and classical guitars.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

Starting in boyhood, an American designer and artist named Donald Evans created thousands of fictitious stamps from nonexistent countries, using a typewriter to punch out the perforations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Or the portable typewriter now sitting on her desk, latched shut but all ready to go.

From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English

Technology is another key feature of that culture—a leap, perhaps, for students who used typewriters when they were in college.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

By then, standard-issue electric typewriters and six-ply carbon paper had been replaced by far less visually interesting computers.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

And even though they’re on deadline, they’re afforded ample time to collect data and conduct interviews before returning to their typewriters.

From Salon ● Mar. 7, 2026

He slapped open a manila folder to reveal a civil deposition addressed to Corinne Leone, the director of Law Library Services: “Why do we have outdated typewriters when we have tablets?”

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2024

I said, “Getting you a date to prom is so hard that a thousand monkeys typing at a thousand typewriters for a thousand years would never once type ‘I will go to prom with Ben!”

From "Paper Towns" by John Green