letter opener
noun
Simple meaning
Any of several devices for opening letters, either by breaking wax seals or by cutting open their envelopes.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lehterohpuhnerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɛtɚˈoʊpənɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Any of several devices for opening letters, either by breaking wax seals or (as is usually the case today) by cutting open their envelopes.
A device shaped like a fixed-blade knife, usually with a blunt edge; the blunt edge does not slice the envelope so much as precisely tear it.
The same sort of device but with a sharpened edge, designed to appeal to customers who enjoy a sharpened one (regardless of whether or not it truly outperforms the nonsharp counterpart).
A device incorporating a small razor-style blade in the crotch of a U-shaped plastic handle; it slices the envelope while being, like a safety razor, unlikely to cut the user accidentally.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Any of several devices for opening letters, either by breaking wax seals or (as is usually the case today) by cutting open their envelopes.
Used this way, letter opener is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.