a letter, especially a formal or didactic one; written communication.
(usually initial capital letter) one of the apostolic letters in the New Testament.
(often initial capital letter) an extract, usually from one of the Epistles of the New Testament, forming part of the Eucharistic service in certain churches.
New Testament any of the apostolic letters of Saints Paul, Peter, James, Jude, or John
a reading from one of the Epistles, forming part of the Eucharistic service in many Christian Churches
a letter, esp one that is long, formal, or didactic
a literary work in letter form, esp a dedicatory verse letter of a type originated by Horace
before 900; Middle English; Old English epistol < Latin epistula, epistola < Greek epistolḗ message, letter, equivalent to epi- epi- + stol- (variant stem of stéllein to send) + -ē noun suffix
An epistle is a long, formal letter. Several books of the Bible consist of epistles. If you're used to emails and text messages, you might be surprised by the idea of the epistle — a letter that is very long and also very formal. An epistle isn't something you dash off in a few minutes while waiting for the bus. Epistles take time and thought to write, almost like doing a research paper. The Bible is full of many epistles — that's where many people have seen this word.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This epistle is full of affection, respect and especially decency—that word George Orwell found best to describe the British people after he had returned from Burma and then watched his nation go to war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Yet the novel evolved incrementally from public to private, epistle to narrative as the scope of the vision enlarged.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2024
To ponder the question and practice decoding an extraterrestrial epistle, an artist-led team has created a mock message from the stars to test us Earthlings.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 3, 2023
Robert William Crampton confirmed he was hoping for "a cowboy suit and guns and a hat and everything", though his father wrote the festive epistle.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2021
The most strident criticism came in the form of a dense, multipage epistle from Ambler, a tiny Inupiat village on the Kobuk River north of the Arctic Circle.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
A reading from the Epistle to the Colossians.
From BBC ● May 5, 2023
Interviewer: It’s fascinating that once again, of course, you’re rewriting the Epistle.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2020
Andrew Solomon, a writer, activist and lecturer whose books include The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression which won the National Book Award, chose this line from Emma Lazarus’s letter collection Epistle to the Hebrews.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 22, 2019
“I had forgotten that the name of the epistle the Angel delivers is the Anti-Migratory Epistle, and there’s all that stuff about the environment and the world coming to an end.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2018
"But you must behave," Mami said, going back to the same old Epistle.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
