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Synonyms

special delivery

American

noun

(in the U.S. Postal Service) delivery of mail outside the regularly scheduled hours, by a special messenger, upon the payment of an extra fee.

special delivery British

noun

the delivery of a piece of mail outside the time of a scheduled delivery

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

special-delivery

adjective

Etymology

Origin of special delivery

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

special delivery

A few weeks ago, I got a text from my grandma: “A special delivery is on its way to you.”

From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026

If they were stopped by police, they were to tell officers they were a special delivery crew transferring radioactive material from the Dounreay nuclear power plant, near Thurso, for disposal at another site.

From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2025

In Erlick’s debut novel, every adult on the planet receives a special delivery and has to decide what to do with it.

From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2022

There’s a special delivery room with Native images on the walls and bed, forms for doctors to approve herbal treatments from trusted traditional healers, and protocols for “good dying” mindful of spiritual beliefs.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 27, 2022

Every now and again, I checked the window to see if the special delivery mail truck had rolled up to our house.

From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023