Online OXFORD Collocation Dictionary

correspondence noun

¹ letters exchanged

ADJ. confidential, personal, private | business, commercial, diplomatic, official | regular | voluminous | lively a lively correspondence in ‘The Times’ about ways of preparing tripe

QUANT. item Numerous items of correspondence have been received on this subject. | pile He was leafing through piles of correspondence.

VERB + CORRESPONDENCE enter into, have It would be foolish for a doctor to enter into correspondence with a patient. I have had correspondence with the company director on this matter. | carry on, keep up We kept up a correspondence for many months. | send Please send correspondence to ‘Letters to the Editor, Model Railway Journal’. | receive | read | answer, deal with, handle The secretary deals with all the correspondence. | catch up on I would spend the time reading or catching up on my correspondence. | intercept The department intercepted the correspondence of foreign diplomats.

CORRESPONDENCE + NOUN column the correspondence columns of the ‘London Review of Books’ | course I did a correspondence course in economics.

PREP. by/through ~ All our business is conducted by correspondence. | in ~ with I have been in correspondence with the manager of the store. | ~ about/on/concerning/regarding/relating to files full of confidential correspondence relating to the company's expansion plans | ~ between I have seen the correspondence between the company and the local authority. | ~ from The editor welcomes correspondence from readers on any subject. | ~ with copies of his correspondence with the Queen

² connection

ADJ. direct, exact, one-to-one The child can see the one-to-one correspondence of the buttons and buttonholes. | close

PREP. ~ between a close correspondence between theory and practice