envelope

noun

en·ve·lope ˈen-və-ˌlōp

ˈän-

Synonyms of envelope next

: a flat usually paper container (as for a letter)

: something that envelops : wrapper

the envelope of air around the earth

: the outer covering of an aerostat

: the bag containing the gas in a balloon or airship

: a natural enclosing covering (such as a membrane, shell, or integument)

: a lipoprotein unit membrane that forms the outer layer of some virions

: a curve tangent to each of a family of curves

: a surface tangent to each of a family of surfaces

: a set of performance limits (as of an aircraft) that may not be safely exceeded

also : the set of operating parameters that exists within these limits

: a conventionally accepted limit

new computers that push the envelope

How do you pronounce envelope?: Usage Guide

The \ˈen-\ and \ˈän-\ pronunciations are used with about equal frequency, and both are fully acceptable, though the \ˈän-\ version is sometimes decried as "pseudo-French." Actually \ˈän-\ is exactly what one would expect to hear when a French word like entrepreneur is becoming anglicized. Envelope, however, has been in English for nearly 300 years, plenty of time for it to become completely anglicized and for both of its pronunciations to win respectability.

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web When a foreign object is placed in the body, the body reacts by forming an envelope of tissue around it. —

Ava Kofman, ProPublica, 26 June 2023 Later on, Richie fishes an envelope addressed from Mikey to Carmy out from behind the staff lockers. —

Laura Zornosa, Time, 19 June 2023 The roughly 30-second video caught by a doorbell camera captured the UPS employee slumping to the ground while delivering an envelope at the door of a Scottsdale residence. —

Laura Daniella Sepulveda, The Arizona Republic, 15 June 2023 The pillows have an envelope closure for a seamless look when the bed is all made up. —

Barbara Bellesi Zito, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 June 2023 Phoenix Graphics also sent incorrect absentee ballot envelopes to New York voters in 2020, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. —

Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY, 1 June 2023 As thousands of students lined up to receive their gift, Hale, the cofounder and CEO of Granite Telecommunications handed out two envelopes with the cash evenly split. —

Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 26 May 2023 The union is facing issues that might have been unfathomable during the last strike, when Netflix was best known for shipping DVDs in red envelopes and traditional network television channels still generated mammoth ratings. —

Daniel Arkin, NBC News, 2 May 2023 Election officials had received and sorted about 65,940 ballot envelopes total by Monday. —

Anchorage Daily News, 11 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'envelope.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.