postmaster
Americannoun
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postmasters
plural
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the official in charge of a post office.
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(formerly) the master of a station that furnished post horses to travelers.
noun
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Also (feminine): postmistress. an official in charge of a local post office
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the person responsible for managing the electronic mail at a site
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of postmaster
Explanation
A postmaster is the person who manages a post office. It's ultimately the postmaster's responsibility to make sure your mail is delivered on time. For three years, Abraham Lincoln was postmaster of the New Salem, Illinois, post office. Back then, this was an appointed position, and postmasters of large post offices were appointed by the president. Today, if you want to be a postmaster you should start by getting a job delivering or sorting mail and work your way up. The postmaster general heads up the entire U.S. Postal Service. Postmaster comes from post, or "mail," and the Latin magister, "director."
Vocabulary lists containing postmaster
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.
See Examples For:
Kendall’s reply to the Charleston postmaster was careful but unmistakable.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026
Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat who received the whistleblower disclosure, asked the postmaster general for detailed info about the plan in a letter this week.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2026
Both the postmaster general and Congress choose to ignore the elephant in the room—the American Postal Workers Union.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026
This month, the Postal Service’s Board of Governors announced its selection of David Steiner to be the next postmaster general.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2025
I must have looked so hopeful and eager that the postmaster, Mr. Johnson, acted less cranky with me than he usually did.
From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk
He instructed Southern postmasters to record and publicize the names of even individual subscribers to abolitionist newspapers to encourage intimidation by their neighbors and perhaps even compel them to leave the South.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026
Southern postmasters thus continued to withhold antislavery periodicals, with the tacit approval of Jackson protégé Kendall.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026
She has dedicated the honour to "all the sub postmasters that we have lost".
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
When the first report of the official inquiry into the scandal was published in July, the Post Office said it apologised "unreservedly" for the suffering "caused to postmasters and their loved ones".
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
Excepting in nine of the larger cities of the state all postmasters are registrars for their respective districts.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby 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.
