correspondence

American  

[kawr-uh-spon-duhns, kor-] / ˌkɔr əˈspɒn dəns, ˌkɒr- /

noun

correspondences plural

1. communication by exchange of letters.

2. a letter or letters that pass between correspondents.

   It will take me all day to answer this business correspondence.

3. Also an instance of corresponding.

4. similarity or analogy.

5. agreement; conformity.

   Synonyms:

   consonance, concord, accord

6. news, commentary, letters, etc., received from a newspaper or magazine correspondent.

7. Mathematics. function.

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correspondence British  

/ ˌkɒrɪˈspɒndəns /

noun

1. the act or condition of agreeing or corresponding

2. similarity or analogy

3. agreement or conformity

4. 1. communication by the exchange of letters

   2. the letters so exchanged

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncorrespondence
  noun
• precorrespondence
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• correspondences
  plural

Etymology

Origin of correspondence

1375–1425; late Middle English (< Middle French ) < Medieval Latin corrēspondentia. See correspondent, -ence

Explanation

Correspondence is a body of letters or communications. If you've ever had a pen pal or an email buddy, you’ve written plenty of correspondence. Besides referring to that stack of love letters you've bound up with ribbon, correspondence has a couple of other meanings, too. When you and your friend hold similar opinions about a particular subject, your thoughts are in correspondence, or "agreement." In mathematics, symmetrical objects are in correspondence — that is, they mirror each other exactly.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

correspondence correspondences

A Pentagon spokesperson declined to answer questions from ProPublica, noting: “As with all congressional correspondence, the Department will respond directly to the authors.”

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

You must be able to read and respond to work-related correspondence in a timely fashion, which means you need access to your phone, laptop and a wifi signal or hotspot.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

District officials declined to provide the correspondence with Carvalho, instead assigning the request to the district’s Public Records Act unit, where some requests for records have taken years to resolve.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026

"Once the petition is closed, it will be considered in line with our petition scheme. As part of this process, we will look at strengthening our messaging both on our website and in direct correspondence."

From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026

First of all, the friendship was, in fact, recovered and the reconciliation realized during the course of the correspondence.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Behind the debate over whether Casey Wasserman should resign as the 2028 Olympics chief over 20-year-old correspondences unearthed in the Epstein files is a fraught question that has long haunted the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026

The agency declined to share correspondences between staffers due to the continuing investigation, the report said.

From Barron's ● Feb. 23, 2026

In another, he included what he described as Kennedy’s explicit correspondences with Nuzzi, and said Nuzzi acted as a political operative for the then-candidate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025

To learn more about the state’s correspondences with the CDC, KFF Health News filed a public records request to the Texas health department.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2025

And although the Richardsons’ farm was little enough like that, Harry Soames found correspondences enough to make him happy.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

Related Words

• writing