correspondence

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   Letters, emails or other messages that people send and receive, or the act of writing to each other.

   Grammar: Uncountable: much correspondence, not many correspondences; takes a singular verb.

   Patterns

   • correspondence with someone
   • correspondence about something

   I have been in correspondence with the author for years.

   The office spends mornings answering customer correspondence.

   Their correspondence reveals how close the friends were.

2. 2nouncountable or uncountableformal

   A close match or link between two things, where one fits or reflects the other.

   Grammar: Often followed by between or with: a correspondence between the two lists.

   Patterns

   • correspondence between A and B
   • correspondence with something

   There is little correspondence between his words and his actions.

   The study found a close correspondence between sleep and mood.

   The map has a clear correspondence with the real streets.

Word forms

Common combinations

exchange correspondence

The two scientists exchanged correspondence for decades.

personal correspondence

She keeps her personal correspondence in a wooden box.

official correspondence

All official correspondence must be signed.

correspondence course

He earned the diploma through a correspondence course.

a close correspondence

The data show a close correspondence between price and demand.

deal with correspondence

She deals with correspondence from readers every Friday.

Synonyms and how they differ

letters

Letters names the individual messages, while correspondence is the whole body of them and sounds more formal.

mail

Mail focuses on what is delivered, including packages and junk, but correspondence implies a real exchange of written messages.

communication

Communication is far wider and includes speech, whereas correspondence is limited to written exchanges.

match

Match is the casual word for the similarity sense, while correspondence sounds scholarly and often suggests a systematic link.

Opposites

Word family

correspond verb

to exchange letters, or to match something

correspondent noun

a journalist who reports from a place, or a person who writes letters

corresponding adjective

matching or related to something else

correspondingly adverb

in a way that matches the situation

Commonly confused: correspondence or correspondent?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “correspondence”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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