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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

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

Since then, everything has gone up dramatically in cost—from the price of a postage stamp or slice of pizza to the cost of a home or college tuition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

It is about the size of a postage stamp and thinner than a credit card.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 8, 2025

Artist Corita Kent, the former Los Angeles nun whose colorful works include the immensely popular “LOVE” postage stamp, died in her Boston home Thursday after a six-month battle against cancer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2025

“It’s okay!” he called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, “it’s a soft landing, you can jump!”

From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

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

The park’s postage-stamp size can be a benefit to birders.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 5, 2022

From there, and in no particular order, the head of a woman in a leather pilot’s cap appears against clouds, an image as heroic as a postage-stamp; then we see her tumbling through space.

From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 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

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

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam