Meaning & use
postscript
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Meanings
nouncountable
A short extra message added at the end of a letter after the writer has signed it, usually introduced by the letters P.S.
Grammar: Abbreviated P.S. in letters and emails.
Patterns
- a postscript to something
- add a postscript
She added a postscript reminding him to bring the photographs.
In a postscript, the author thanked everyone who wrote to him.
The postscript at the bottom was the funniest line in the letter.
nouncountable
Any additional piece of information or comment added after the main part of a book, speech or story.
Grammar: Often followed by to: a postscript to the story.
Patterns
- a postscript to something
The book ends with a postscript about what happened to the family.
A brief postscript to the report explained the later findings.
The film's final scene works as a postscript to the war.
Word forms
| plural | postscripts |
|---|
Common combinations
- add a postscript
- He added a postscript about the weather.
- in a postscript
- In a postscript she apologized.
- a brief postscript
- A brief postscript updated the readers.
- a postscript to history
- The treaty was a sad postscript to history.
- final postscript
- The final postscript of the article reveals the winner.
Synonyms and how they differ
- P.S.
- P.S. is the abbreviation actually written at the end of a note, while postscript is the full word.
- afterword
- Afterword is a closing section of a book by the author or another writer, more formal than a postscript.
- addendum
- Addendum is a formal addition to a document, often correcting or extending it.
- epilogue
- Epilogue is a concluding part of a story or play that shows what happens later.
Opposites
Word family
- script noun
- a piece of writing, from the same Latin root
- post- prefix
- meaning after
- PostScript proper noun
- a page description language in computing, a separate technical sense
Commonly confused: postscript or prescript?
postscript vs prescript
A prescript is a rule or instruction; a postscript is an addition at the end.
Practice
After signing the letter, Mia remembered one more thing and wrote it as a ___ underneath.
Choose one answer.
A postscript is an addition after the main text. A prologue and preface come before the main text, and a heading is a title.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “postscript”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.