chain letter

American  

noun

1. a letter sent to a number of people, each of whom is asked to make and mail copies to other people who are to do likewise, often used as a means of spreading a message or raising money.

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chain letter British  

noun

1. a letter, often with a request for and promise of money, that is sent to many people who add to or recopy it and send it on to others: illegal in many countries

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Etymology

Origin of chain letter

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

“Forward,” a four-year, group-art project dreamed up by Shaun Kardinal, takes the old idea of the chain letter and gives it multidimensional mutations.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 26, 2019

As a hedge, I’m sending everyone I know a chain letter.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 10, 2018

Despite its crisp, futuristic name, the National Space Council is a recurring relic of the past, like a chain letter that surfaces every few decades or so.

From Scientific American • Oct. 16, 2017

It just happens to be the perfect 21st-century venue for the propagation of scams and urban legends that would have propagated by word of mouth, tabloid, or chain letter in earlier eras.

From Slate • Dec. 3, 2014

At the bottom, Helmuth added: “This is a chain letter, so please pass it on.”

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti