empty letter

noun

A promise that is not intended to be fulfilled.

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Meanings

nounempty letter (plural empty letters)

plural empty letters

  1. figurativelyA promise that is not intended to be fulfilled.

    "According to Thorpe: 'The renewed social contract implied by the 1979 Constitution became virtually an empty letter.'”

    1979 April, Luis van Isschot, Pacificacion y Desarrollo: Clientelism, Community Kitchens, and the Articulation of Social Policy in Contemporary Peru
Cite this entry
APA

empty letter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/empty%20letter

MLA

“empty letter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/empty%20letter. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “empty letter,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/empty%20letter.

Source: empty letter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.