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:
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
Sadly, her aunt turns out to be dead, but Quartz Creek’s postmaster encourages Selena to move into her house anyway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
U.S. in 1926, which held that the president could remove a postmaster in Oregon.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2025
Instead he was introduced by board member John M. Barger, a Southern California investment executive who was supervising the postmaster search.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2024
He handed the paper with its seemingly meaningless words back to the postmaster.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
Betty Brown has been a fierce advocate for postmasters and this government has now paid out over £1.3bn to more than 10,000 victims.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
Southern postmasters instituted a comprehensive censorship of mail to prevent antislavery literature from reaching the South.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2025
He said moving to a fully franchised network was one part of enabling the Post Office to deliver a new deal for postmasters.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2025
The Post Office's reputation has also been seriously damaged because of the Horizon IT scandal, which saw hundreds of postmasters and mistress wrongly convicted when faulty software made it look like they were stealing money.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 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.
