e-mail

British  

/ ˈiːmeɪl /

noun

1. short for electronic mail

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verb

1. to contact (a person) by electronic mail

2. to send (a message, document, etc) by electronic mail

e-mail Scientific  

/ ē′māl′ /

1. A system for sending and receiving messages electronically over a computer network. E-mail is asynchronous and does not require the receiver of the message to be online at the time the message is sent or received. E-mail also allows a user to distribute messages to large numbers of recipients instantaneously.

2. A message or messages sent or received by such a system.

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e-mail Cultural  

1. E-mail has become one of the most widely used aspects of the Internet, because it provides a means of mass communication to almost anywhere in the world at high speed.

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Discover More

The proliferation of spam and the transmission of computer viruses through e-mail attachments are two of the more problematic aspects of this technology.

Other Word Forms

• e-mailer noun

Example Sentences

Updates to the file were then made over the phone, and not discussed via e-mail, according to Higgins.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2026

In an e-mail to States members, the Guernsey politician she said she was stepping down "for personal reasons".

From BBC • Nov. 5, 2025

"American citizens do not surrender our constitutional rights just because Ofcom sends us an e-mail," Preston Byrne of law firm Byrne & Storm said.

From BBC • Aug. 27, 2025

In September 2008, Paltrow launched Goop, a wellness and lifestyle brand that first began as a weekly e-mail newsletter before expanding into an e-commerce platform, a print magazine and pop-up stores.

From Salon • Aug. 9, 2025

His e-mail in-box for the month contained 33,000 messages.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis