folder

American  

[fohl-der] / ˈfoʊl dər /

noun

• folders
  plural

1. a person or thing that folds.

2. a printed sheet, as a circular or timetable, folded into a number of usually pagelike sections.

3. a folded sheet of light cardboard used to cover or hold papers, letters, etc., as in a file.

4. Computers. directory.

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folder British  

/ ˈfəʊldə /

noun

1. a binder or file for holding loose papers, etc

2. a folded circular

3. a machine for folding printed sheets

4. a person or thing that folds

5. computing another name for directory

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• folders
  plural

Etymology

Origin of folder

First recorded in 1545–55; fold ¹ + -er ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

folder folders

All of a sudden, the player who couldn’t keep his emails out of the junk folder has become the quarterback NFL teams are lining up to draft, as a projected first-round pick in April.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Prosecutors alleged that when they went through Light's deleted folder on her phone, they found photos of jurors exiting the courthouse, and Light was then taken into custody.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

Clutching under his arm a blue folder stuffed with documents, maps, and cadastral surveys, Balliu said he has been threatened several times for trying to assert his rights.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

A simple way to imagine this is like making two photocopies of a document but accidentally placing both copies into the same folder instead of separating them.

From Science Daily ● May 25, 2026

I refresh a few times and then check my sent folder to make sure the email went through.

From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya

A July trip to Target to get everything on her list — among the items, two packs of wired headphones, Band-Aids, eight folders and four composition notebooks — cost about $230.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026

The target folders ensured that agents apprehended the correct person.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

The lawsuit claims that Liu did not return an Apple-issued work laptop and exploited a “rare, previously unknown” bug to access Apple’s shared network folders while employed at OpenAI.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026

Other items found in the SNP headquarters included a £195 memo holder from Smythson, a tea set costing £2,396, and a selection of writing folders.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

It was one of those thin, cheap, neutral-colored folders people used in offices.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Related Words

• binder
• file
• pocket