Meaning & use
email account
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A personal arrangement with a provider that gives you an address and storage for sending and receiving electronic messages.
Grammar: Usually takes verbs like open, create, delete or have: I opened an email account.
Patterns
- open an email account
- log into an email account
I opened a new email account just for online shopping.
She checks her work email account every morning.
He forgot the password to his old email account.
nouncountable
The stored messages and settings that belong to one address, regarded as a place you sign in to.
Grammar: Often used with sign in, log in or hacked.
Patterns
- hack into an email account
- access an email account
Someone hacked into her email account and sent spam.
You can link your email account to your phone.
The company deleted the email account after he left.
Word forms
| plural | email accounts |
|---|
Common combinations
- create an email account
- It takes a minute to create an email account.
- personal email account
- Please use your personal email account for this form.
- hacked email account
- A hacked email account put her contacts at risk.
- work email account
- I never check my work email account at weekends.
- close an email account
- You can close an email account in the settings.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mailbox
- Mailbox is the place where messages arrive, while email account also includes the address and sign-in details.
- inbox
- Inbox is only the folder of received messages, not the whole account.
- email address
- An email address is just the name people send mail to, while an account is the full service you use.
- webmail
- Webmail is an account you read in a browser, one type of email account.
Word family
Commonly confused: email account or email address?
email account vs email address
The address is what people type to reach you, while the account is the service where you read and send messages.
Practice
To read your messages on a new phone, you first need to sign in to your ____.
Choose one answer.
An email account holds your address and messages, so signing in to it lets you read them. The other options do not store messages.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “email account”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.