email

American  

[ee-mayl] / ˈiˌmeɪl /

Or e-mail

noun

• emails
  plural

1. 

   a system for sending messages to one or more recipients via telecommunications links between computers using dedicated software or a web-based service.

   Communication by email is almost instantaneous.

2. a message sent by email.

   Send me an email about that idea, and I'll get back to you.

3. an address at which a person can receive email messages.

   He’s got my phone number and email in case he needs to contact me.

---

verb (used with object)

• emails,
  present (3rd person singular)
• emailed,
  past participle,  past
• emailing
  present participle

1. to send (a message or file) to (a person or organization) by email: I emailed the company but haven’t heard back yet.

   He emailed his response to the invitation.

   I emailed the company but haven’t heard back yet.

verb (used without object)

• emails,
  present (3rd person singular)
• emailed,
  past participle,  past
• emailing
  present participle

1. to send an email; communicate by email or exchange emails: We emailed back and forth for three weeks before actually meeting.

   She emailed to say she’ll be on vacation next week.

   We emailed back and forth for three weeks before actually meeting.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• emails
  plural

Participles

• emailing
  present
• emailed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• email
  simple
• emails
  simple
• have emailed
  perfect
• has emailed
  perfect
• am emailing
  progressive
• are emailing
  progressive
• is emailing
  progressive
• have been emailing
  perfect progressive
• has been emailing
  perfect progressive

Past

• emailed
  simple
• had emailed
  perfect
• was emailing
  progressive
• were emailing
  progressive
• had been emailing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will email
  simple
• will have emailed
  perfect
• will be emailing
  progressive
• will have been emailing
  perfect progressive

---

Etymology

Origin of email

First recorded in 1975–80; e(lectronic) + mail ¹

---

Explanation

Email is an electronic message that's sent from one computer to another. When you receive good news in an email, you can forward the message to your friends and family. Most email these days uses the Internet for connecting the sender and recipient. Unlike some other kinds of messaging, when you send an email to a friend, she doesn't have to be online at the same time to get your message. The next time she checks her email account, your email will be waiting for her. Email, sometimes spelled e-mail, is short for electronic mail, and was coined in the early 1980s.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

email emails emailed emailing

Ship captains seeking clearance to transit the Red Sea have to turn to an often-overlooked application system: They send Houthi militants an email.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

But the next day, “the Department and the labor unions came to an agreement during the meet and confer process and all concerns were resolved,” the Sheriff’s Department said in an email on Friday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

I had email, which only about half the people I knew could claim, including the most internet-savvy among us, Scott Rosenberg.

From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2026

In an email exchange with MarketWatch, Giuseppe Sette, the co-founder of Reflexivity, said that the current valuation for SOX was comparable to “almost the exact bottom” in October 2022.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

I look up detectives and email as many as I can.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

Parents were also advised by the school, as a precaution, "to remain alert to any unexpected emails, telephone calls or other communications which refer to you, your child or their school."

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

And over the past several months, I’ve received a handful of emails from readers asking what packaged, prepared and otherwise convenient foods I actually buy.

From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026

Throughout October, second-year law student Madeleine Edwards received a series of upbeat emails from Weil Gotshal & Manges, the firm where she had landed a coveted job for next summer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

In a tab labeled “Manage subscriptions” in the left rail of the Gmail interface, there’s a list of all the promotional emails and newsletters that regularly make their way into your inbox.

From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026

“I’m pretty sure that when someone emails you asking to meet them, that’s a good sign.”

From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway

If you emailed David, however, you’d have to walk across the office to nag him into looking at it.

From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2026

On Thursday, Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, in the firm’s emailed newsletter called companies dedicated to steady dividend increases “a rare breed.”

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

Earlier this year, a Perfect Child collections manager emailed a patient’s parent threatening to report her if she didn’t pay nearly $20,000 by the end of that week.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

They put a stop on withdrawals and emailed Woodmere saying they were no longer authorizing automatic payments.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

I emailed the picture to myself so I could open it on Trevor’s computer.

From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks

After months of emailing and already deeply in love, I knew I had to tell Matt that I’d never move back to New York City.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

I thought of one 64-year-old woman named Johna, with whom I had been emailing.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

“I’ve got kids in Seattle, in Nashville, in Dallas that are emailing me and going, please bring it here,” she explained.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

The company’s loyal tea drinkers are emailing executives and signing petitions in a desperate bid to bring back the old recipe—and get to the bottom of the “Great Chai Incident of 2026.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

I spend the rest of the morning emailing the hospitals to ask if one of their patients is my mom.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---