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Synonyms

addressee

American  
[ad-re-see, uh-dre-see] / ˌæd rɛˈsi, ə drɛˈsi /

noun

  1. the person, company, or the like to whom a piece of mail is addressed.

addressee British  
/ ˌædrɛˈsiː /

noun

  1. a person or organization to whom a letter, parcel, etc, is addressed

  2. a person who is addressed in conversation, a speech, a poem, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of addressee

An Americanism dating back to 1670–80; address + -ee

Explanation

The person who receives a letter in the mail is an addressee. If you're mailing a birthday gift, be sure to write the addressee's name and address clearly on the package! Whenever you send something to a particular address, you indicate an addressee. If you send your best friend a postcard from Hawaii, you'll include her name, street number, city, state and zip code, making her the addressee. Adding -ee to the end of a word is one way to indicate the recipient of an action; along with addressee, words like appointee and employee also use this suffix.

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Vocabulary lists containing addressee

Lessons 2–3

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There is one Addressee to whom I have not lifted up my eyes.

From The Debit Account by Onions, Oliver [pseud.]

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.