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• postage stamp
  postage stamp

  noun

  a small gummed label issued by postal authorities that can be affixed to an envelope, postcard, or package as evidence that postal charges have been paid.
• postage-stamp
  postage-stamp

  adjective

  of very small area or size.

postage stamp

¹ American  

noun

• postage stamps
  plural

1. a small gummed label issued by postal authorities that can be affixed to an envelope, postcard, or package as evidence that postal charges have been paid.

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postage-stamp ² American  

[poh-stij-stamp] / ˈpoʊ stɪdʒˌstæmp /

adjective

Informal.

1. of very small area or size.

   a postage-stamp bikini.

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postage stamp British  

noun

1. a printed paper label with a gummed back for attaching to mail as an official indication that the required postage has been paid

2. a mark directly printed or embossed on an envelope, postcard, etc, serving the same function

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• postage stamps
  plural

Etymology

Origin of postage stamp¹

First recorded in 1830–40

Origin of postage-stamp²

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

postage stamp postage-stamp

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 analogy is shrinking a 4K image to the size of a postage stamp — except the picture is still 4K.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 6, 2026

The patch is a soft and stretchy device, about the size of a postage stamp, that adheres to the skin.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2024

“It’s just a postage stamp suburban yard, but there’s a lot going on here,” Ransdell said of the yard’s abundant wildlife, which counts rabbits, skunks, raccoons and possums as visitors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2024

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

By their very nature, tall and fast bowlers can leak runs and are more likely to if there is a postage-stamp boundary on one half of the ground.

From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2024

Now — in a tidy, safe community of three-bedroom houses and postage-stamp lawns, pieces of the American Dream — they were facing down a tornado.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 15, 2021

Now our world actually is small, centered around our compact city house with its postage-stamp sized backyard.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 31, 2020

She has these famous quotes about how they came to her postage-stamp size and her job was to blow them up to the six-foot-square size that she favored.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2016

“I can try wetting it with the postage-stamp glue in the next batch,” I proposed.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam