Phrase guide

snail mail

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈsneɪl ˌmeɪl/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Mail (physical material) sent in the post, especially as compared with email.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: retronym, uncountable

Examples

  • I came home to a mailbox stuffed with snail mail.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Mail (postal service), especially as compared with email.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: retronym, uncountable

Examples

  • The official notice will be sent via both email and snail mail owing to legal requirements.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

any mail that is physically delivered by the postal service

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • email is much faster than snail mail

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: electronic mail, e-mail, email

Broader terms: mail, mail service, postal service, post

History

Etymology

A retronym emphasizing postal mail's slowness compared to email.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: correu ordinari — postal mail
  • Chinese Mandarin: 郵局遞送的郵件 /邮局递送的邮件 (yóujú dìsòng de yóujiàn) — postal mail
  • Danish: sneglepost — postal mail
  • Dutch: slakkenpost — postal mail
  • Dutch: snailmail — postal mail
  • Estonian: tigupost — postal mail
  • Finnish: etanaposti — postal mail
  • French: courrier papier — postal mail
  • French: courrier traditionnel — postal mail
  • Galician: correo postal — postal mail
  • German: Schneckenpost — postal mail
  • German: Snailmail f Snail-Mail — postal mail
  • Icelandic: sniglapóstur — postal mail
  • Italian: posta cartacea — postal mail
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sneglepost — postal mail
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sniglepost — postal mail
  • Portuguese: correio lesma — postal mail
  • Russian: по́чта (póčta) — postal mail
  • Spanish: correo postal — postal mail
  • Spanish: correo ordinario — postal mail
  • Swedish: snigelpost — postal mail
  • Telugu: తంతి తపాలా (tanti tapālā) — postal mail