inbox

noun

in·​box ˈin-ˌbäks How to pronounce inbox (audio)
variants or in-box
plural inboxes or in-boxes
1
: a box or tray (as on a desk) for holding incoming interoffice mail
2
: a computer folder devoted to incoming email
One of my favorite rituals soon became scanning our email inbox, looking for your photographs … and reading the letters you sent …—Amy Virshup

Examples of inbox in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
When a company that builds fire trucks, rail-maintenance machinery, or electric vehicle chargers is invited to bid on a big contract, the request that lands in its inbox can run to thousands of pages of technical specifications. — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2026 Billing sits in one system, cash application in another, relationship history lives in the CRM, and the collections context that would explain all of it is in somebody’s inbox. — David Zwick, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026 Sign up to get expert tips on the best of Southern California's beaches, trails, parks, deserts, forests and mountains in your inbox every Thursday. — Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026 Earlier this week, researchers outlined an attack that used a secret input provided by Microsoft 365 Copilot for enterprise to cause the AI assistant to exfiltrate a password present in the user’s inbox. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 20 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for inbox

Word History

First Known Use

1958, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of inbox was in 1958

Browse Nearby Words

inbounds pass
inbox
inbreak
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Cite this Entry

“Inbox.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inbox. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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Kids Definition

in-box

noun
ˈin-ˌbäks How to pronounce in-box (audio)
: a receptacle for incoming letters between offices in an organization
also : a computer folder for incoming email
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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