letter noun
1 written/printed message
ADJ. lengthy, long | brief, short | ten-page, etc. | rambling | countless, endless, numerous She received countless letters of support while in jail. | occasional Apart from the occasional letter, they had not been in touch for years. | incoming The porter distributes incoming letters to the offices. | urgent | airmail | handwritten | anonymous | formal, official | business | personal | confidential, private | open, public The editor published an open letter to the prime minister. | circular | chain | form, standard | specimen | accompanying, covering, explanatory The conditions are explained in the accompanying letter. Send your CV with a covering letter. | thank-you I wrote my uncle a thank-you letter as soon as I opened the present. | congratulatory | warning | rejection I've had job interviews and received ten rejection letters. | resignation | suicide | fan | love | affectionate, intimate | charming, delightful | chatty, cheerful, friendly | heartfelt, impassioned She wrote an impassioned letter to her local newspaper to complain about the new road. | courteous, polite | apologetic | angry, rude, strong, strongly-worded, threatening | indignant | critical | frank | poison pen He had been sending poison pen letters to his neighbours, hoping to make them move away.
VERB + LETTER draft, write drafting an angry letter to the newspaper | read | get, have, receive I haven't had a letter from her for ages. | post, send | fax | deliver | forward The letter was forwarded from my old address. | register | seal | open | acknowledge, answer, reply to, respond to I was angry that they didn't even acknowledge my letter. | address The letter was addressed to me. | sign | publish The newspaper refused to publish the letter.
LETTER + VERB arrive, come, reach sb I hope my last letter has reached you. | be dated … The letter is dated 7 July. | cross Our letters crossed in the post. | be lost, go astray | announce sth, ask (sb) sth, begin, start (off) The letter started off by thanking us for our offer. | continue, go on His letter wen | conclude, end The letter concluded with a threat of possible legal action. | contain sth The letter contained information that only the killer could know. | enclose sth The charity received an anonymous letter enclosing a large cheque. | appear A letter headed ‘Advertising Mania’ appeared in the paper.
LETTER + NOUN writing | box The postman put a bundle of letters through the letter box. | bomb
PREP. by ~ Please reply by letter. | in a/the ~ In your letter of 5 June … | ~ about/concerning/regarding, ~ from, ~ of a letter of application/apology | ~ to a letter to the editor
2 sign that represents a sound in a language
ADJ. big, large | block, capital, upper-case Fill in the form in block letters. | lower-case, small | bold | initial The company's name is made from the initial letters of his children's names. | double Words with double letters, such as ‘accommodation’, are commonly misspelt. | silent words such as ‘debt’ and ‘half’, which contain silent letters
PREP. in … ~s His name was written in large white letters over the doorway.
PHRASES the letters of the alphabet
You can also check other dicts: letter (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition