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Glite Dictionary
to seal the letter

to seal the letter

2.7
To close a letter with wax or glue so it cannot be opened without notice
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : sellar la carta
  • Before mailing the invitation, he sealed the letter securely to prevent anyone from reading its contents.

Examples

  • Maria must have set down her pen close to midnight, but before she could seal the letter, a note from Jan arrived, and she wrote again.

    Academic text (1999)

  • After writing a heartfelt message, she carefully sealed the letter with a wax stamp to ensure it remained private.

  • She took a moment to seal the letter with a red wax seal, making it look more official and personal.

Synonyms

to seal
vsto seal the letter
457 2.5

To close something tightly to stop air or water getting in

is used for envelopes to prevent unnoticed opening and show tampering

Antonyms

to unseal
20 4.3

To open something by breaking or removing a seal

Surface Forms

seal the letter infinitive
sealed the letter past
sealed the letter past participle
sealing the letter present participle
seals the letter third person singular

Morphology

seal + the + letter

The meaning is directly built from the verb 'seal' (to close securely) plus the noun 'letter', so a learner who knows both words can infer 'to close a letter securely' without prior exposure. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows normal verb + object semantics, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Seal the letter comes from the old practice of closing a letter by melting wax over the fold and pressing a stamp to make a seal. The hard wax kept the paper shut and showed if someone had opened it, so the phrase now means 'to close a letter securely'.