postage
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of postage
Explanation
Postage is the cost of sending something in the mail. If the postage for mailing your brother's collection of porcelain pigs is too high, you might want to bring them with you when you drive to his house instead. Use the noun postage for the expense of mailing letters and packages, or for the stamps themselves: "Don't forget to attach the postage before you put that in the mailbox!" Some people, in fact, refer to them as "postage stamps." Postage comes from post, "mail system": early mail carriers were "posted" along a road, like a relay race, to speed delivery.
Vocabulary lists containing postage
List 8
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -age
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for November 11–November 17, 2023
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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.
When the postal service first started printing stamps and recording the price in 1885, it cost 2 cents for postage on a 1-ounce letter.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
A postage stamp-sized implant eliminates a dangerous waiting period that has long worsened outcomes for cancer patients.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
She said a friend in the UK sent her a box of gluten-free goods each month which "ends up being cheaper, even including the postage" compared to buying the products in Guernsey.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2026
The championships are considered a major cultural event in the Netherlands, even featuring special postage stamps with the logo of a ladle and potato masher.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
Lyddie fetched the coins for the postage from their almost empty cash box.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
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.
