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Glite Dictionary
letter writer

letter writer

9 2.5
A person who writes letters to send messages to other people
  • noun
  • /ˈlɛtər ˈraɪtər/
translation icon : corresponsal
  • The letter writer sent a heartfelt message to his friend, hoping to share his thoughts and feelings.
  • an individual letter writer

And now these friends are no longer talking, and the letter writer wants to know who was in the wrong.

Examples

  • The profile had said that the letter writer was probably very young and highly educated.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • I'm not a very good letter writer, though.

    The Devil's Playground (1977)

  • And now these friends are no longer talking, and the letter writer wants to know who was in the wrong.

    The Drew Barrymore Show

  • I'm not much of a letter writer.

    Yonkers Joe (2008)

  • Letter writers often mention the homes of people who come in to visit church services or attend weddings.

    Academic text (2016)

  • She'd been a wonderful letter writer; he'd saved all her letters.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Letter writers reinforce the importance of individual connections among Budget readers in a number of ways.

    Academic text (2016)

  • There are those who say the letter writer was polite and only stating facts, and she overreacted.

    Blog text (21)

  • A desire to keep letters private seems quite generalized in the population of letter-writers I have been studying.

    Academic text (2000)

  • In response, other letter-writers expressed more clearly the peoplehood message that underlay MWC official statements.

    Academic text (2006)

Synonyms

writer
vsletter writer
∞ 1.0

A person who creates books, articles, or stories

focuses on sending letters to communicate rather than producing long texts
correspondent
vsletter writer
31 3.5

A person who regularly writes letters to someone

typically sends letters to communicate but not necessarily regularly
screever
vsletter writer
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who writes letters or documents for other people for money

sends letters personally to communicate rather than for hire

Surface Forms

letter writer singular
letter writers plural

Morphology

letter + writer

The meaning is directly compositional: 'letter' (a message) + 'writer' (one who writes) yields 'a person who writes letters.' This agentive compound/noun phrase structure is transparent and common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Letter writer comes from the simple image of someone who sits at a desk and, as a writer, writes a letter to send by mail or email. So today letter writer means 'a person who writes letters to communicate', for example someone who sends notes to friends or writes to a newspaper.