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 shows the vessel in operation at the time.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
Three dozen works, some as tiny as a postage stamp, show the stunning range of styles and artists that the museum has championed across the years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 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
Upon landing, Columbus was to thrust his sword into the ground and claim the New World for Spain, while his men assumed positions that mimicked those depicted on a two-cent postage stamp commemorating Columbus’s discovery.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
