correspondence
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the letters or emails that people send and receive.
communication by exchanging letters, emails, or other written messages. Uncountable in the sense of the activity; countable when referring to a specific collection of documents.
Simple“I have a lot of personal correspondence to catch up on this weekend.”
In context“The historian spent years cataloguing the private correspondence between the two diplomats, hoping to find clues about the secret treaty.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
a close connection or similarity between two sets of facts or ideas.
a close similarity, connection, or equivalence between two or more things. Often used with the preposition 'between'.
Simple“There is a clear correspondence between the two sets of test results.”
In context“The researchers noted a direct correspondence between the rise in local temperatures and the decline in the native bird population.”
UsageOften followed by the preposition 'between' or 'with'.
SynonymsAntonyms
“In her correspondence, she welcomed the judge's concern to ensure access to appropriate legal representation.”
“On Thursday, McInerney said correspondence leading up to the Beckington contract in which he told Ellis to get an ABN and a mailbox was “traditional due diligence”.”
From Middle English correspondence, from Latin correspondentia. By surface analysis, correspond + -ence.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.