Jump To:

• postage stamp
  postage stamp

  noun

  a small gummed label issued by postal authorities that can be affixed to an envelope, postcard, or package as evidence that postal charges have been paid.
• postage-stamp
  postage-stamp

  adjective

  of very small area or size.

postage stamp

¹ American  

noun

• postage stamps
  plural

1. a small gummed label issued by postal authorities that can be affixed to an envelope, postcard, or package as evidence that postal charges have been paid.

---

postage-stamp ² American  

[poh-stij-stamp] / ˈpoʊ stɪdʒˌstæmp /

adjective

Informal.

1. of very small area or size.

   a postage-stamp bikini.

---

postage stamp British  

noun

1. a printed paper label with a gummed back for attaching to mail as an official indication that the required postage has been paid

2. a mark directly printed or embossed on an envelope, postcard, etc, serving the same function

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• postage stamps
  plural

Etymology

Origin of postage stamp¹

First recorded in 1830–40

Origin of postage-stamp²

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

postage stamp postage-stamp

A postage stamp shows the vessel in operation at the time.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026

The analogy is shrinking a 4K image to the size of a postage stamp — except the picture is still 4K.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 6, 2026

Since then, everything has gone up dramatically in cost—from the price of a postage stamp or slice of pizza to the cost of a home or college tuition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

Betty White, who died in 2021 after a decades-spanning career in television, will be honored with a postage stamp in 2025, the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2024

I was rewrapping the cookies in the brown outer paper when my eyes fell on the address written in Nollie’s careful hand, slanting upward toward the postage stamp.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

By their very nature, tall and fast bowlers can leak runs and are more likely to if there is a postage-stamp boundary on one half of the ground.

From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2024

“It’s just a postage-stamp suburban yard, but there’s a lot going on here,” Ransdell said of the yard’s abundant wildlife, which counts rabbits, skunks, raccoons and possums as visitors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2024

The Donbas, a region roughly the size of New Hampshire, is made up of rolling fields, postage-stamp sized mining towns and hulking plateaus of slag heaps discarded from the area’s constellation of coal mines.

From New York Times ● Sep. 26, 2022

Later they bought a modest house with a Spanish-tile roof and a postage-stamp lawn.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 18, 2021

“I can try wetting it with the postage-stamp glue in the next batch,” I proposed.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam