Word.ws English Dictionary

check is in the mail

check is in the mail phrase: a common excuse used by debtors to put off creditors.

Phrase

check is in the mail

  1. (idiomatic, ironic, often) A common excuse used by debtors to put off creditors.
    • Your check is in the mail. I gave it to my son to mail yesterday. I hope he remembered.
    • The reply was usually either a story about financial problems, or the "check is in the mail" dodge.1989, Ceramics Monthly, page 77

Questions about check is in the mail

What does check is in the mail mean?
Check is in the mail means a common excuse used by debtors to put off creditors.
What part of speech is check is in the mail?
Check is in the mail is a phrase.

Words near check is in the mail in the dictionary

  1. check hooks
  2. check in
  3. check in on
  4. check in with oneself
  5. check into
  6. check is in the mail
  7. check key
  8. check keys
  9. check mark
  10. check marks
  11. check minus

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: check is in the mail (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-check is in the mail.ogg.

Cite this entry: “check is in the mail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/check_is_in_the_mail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.