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• epistle
  epistle

  noun

  a letter, especially a formal or didactic one; written communication.
• Epistle
  Epistle

  noun

  New Testament any of the apostolic letters of Saints Paul, Peter, James, Jude, or John

epistle

American  

[ih-pis-uhl] / ɪˈpɪs əl /

noun

1. a letter, especially a formal or didactic one; written communication.

2. (usually initial capital letter) one of the apostolic letters in the New Testament.

3. (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.

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Epistle ¹ British  

/ ɪˈpɪsəl /

noun

1. New Testament any of the apostolic letters of Saints Paul, Peter, James, Jude, or John

2. a reading from one of the Epistles, forming part of the Eucharistic service in many Christian Churches

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epistle ² British  

/ ɪˈpɪsəl /

noun

1. a letter, esp one that is long, formal, or didactic

2. a literary work in letter form, esp a dedicatory verse letter of a type originated by Horace

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Etymology

Origin of epistle

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

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

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