papers

P3A1P3E1R1S1
US/ˈpeɪpɚz/UK/ˈpeɪpəz/

noun

Official documents or identification, as a passport.

“He lost his papers while travelling and had a hard time getting home.”

Similar
documentwritten document
Very commonScrabble 10

Meanings

noun
  1. pluralplural of paper.
nounpapers pl (plural only)
  1. pluralplural onlyOfficial documents or identification, as a passport.

    He lost his papers while travelling and had a hard time getting home.

    2 more examples

    Toward the end of the war, Benoit was sent off on his own with forged papers; he wound up working as a horse groom at a chalet in the Loire valley. Mandelbrot describes this harrowing youth with great sangfroid.

    2013 January 28, Brian Hayes, “Father of Fractals”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 62

    The arrival of the British Consul at Bangkok shall not take place before the ratification of this Treaty, nor until ten vessels owned by British subjects, sailing under British colours and with British papers, shall have entered the port of Bangkok for purposes of trade, subsequent to the signing of this Treaty.

    1856, “Treaty signed April 18, 1855; ratified April 5, 1856”, in Treaty of friendship and commerce between Great Britain and Siam, Bangkok: J. H. Chandler, page 7
  2. pluralplural onlyA collection of documents, unpublished writing or correspondence in an archive or library collection.
  3. Australiapluralplural onlycigarette papers

    "All right, if you happen to be over that way, just get me some fags. No, wait a shake, get me a tin of cigarette tobacco and some papers."

    1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 76
verb
  1. indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of paper

Synonyms & antonyms

nounwriting that provides information (especially information of an official nature)

Similar
documentwritten document
Broader
writingwritten materialpiece of writing

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Catalan papers
  • papersofficial documents or identification
Chinese Mandarin 證件 /证件
  • 證件 /证件 (zhèngjiàn)official documents or identification
Finnish paperit, paperit
  • paperitofficial documents or identification
  • paperitcollection of documents
French papiers
  • papiersofficial documents or identification
German Papiere
  • Papiereofficial documents or identification
Polish papiery, papiery
  • papieryofficial documents or identification
  • papierycollection of documents
Russian докуме́нты, бума́ги
  • докуме́нты (dokuménty)official documents or identification
  • бума́ги (bumági)official documents or identification
  • бума́ги (bumági)collection of documents
  • докуме́нты (dokuménty)collection of documents
Spanish papeles
  • papelesofficial documents or identification
Turkish evraklar
  • evraklarcollection of documents

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

papers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/papers

MLA

“papers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/papers. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “papers,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/papers.

Source: papers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.