letter opener
letter opener noun: a device shaped like a fixed-blade knife, usually with a blunt edge; the blunt edge does not slice the envelope so much as precisely tear it.
Noun
letter opener (plural letter openers)
- A device shaped like a fixed-blade knife, usually with a blunt edge; the blunt edge does not slice the envelope so much as precisely tear it.
- The same sort of device but with a sharpened edge, designed to appeal to customers who enjoy a sharpened one (regardless of whether or not it truly outperforms the nonsharp counterpart).
- A device incorporating a small razor-style blade in the crotch of a U-shaped plastic handle; it slices the envelope while being, like a safety razor, unlikely to cut the user accidentally.
Forms of letter opener
| plural | letter openers |
|---|---|
| alternative form | letter-opener |
Questions about letter opener
- What does letter opener mean?
- Letter opener means a device shaped like a fixed-blade knife, usually with a blunt edge; the blunt edge does not slice the envelope so much as precisely tear it.
- What part of speech is letter opener?
- Letter opener is a noun.
- What is the plural of letter opener?
- The plural of letter opener is letter openers.
Words near letter opener in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: letter opener (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-letter opener.wav.
Cite this entry: “letter opener.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/letter_opener. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.