Meanings
- uncountableA postal service in which a mail is held at a post office to be collected by the recipient
This was in the old days, before the expansion of the internet, so we hadn’t received any news from Norway. The only exceptions were letters from girlfriends, friends and family that were sent poste restante to the harbors where we were expected.
2017, Erling Kagge, Silence: In the Age of Noise, page 50Synonyms: general delivery, to be called for, care of post office
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA postal service in which a mail is held at a post office to be collected by the recipient
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe part of a post office that handles mail for persons who call for it
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchposte restante
- Englishposte restante
Borrowed from French poste restante.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 存局候領 /存局候领, 存局待領 /存局待领
- 存局候領 /存局候领 (cúnjúhòulǐng)a service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
- 存局待領 /存局待领 (cúnjúdàilǐng)a service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
- 留局候領 /留局候领 (liújúhòulǐng)a service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
Finnish poste restante, noutoposti
- poste restantea service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
- noutopostia service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
French poste restante
- poste restantea service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
German Postlagerservice
- Postlagerservicea service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
Hungarian postán maradó
- postán maradóa service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
Italian fermoposta
- fermopostaa service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
Japanese 局留め
- 局留め (kyokudome)a service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
Korean 우체국 임치제
- 우체국 임치제 (ucheguk imchije)a service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
Portuguese posta restante
- posta restantea service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
Russian до востре́бования
- до востре́бования (do vostrébovanija)a service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
Swedish poste restante
- poste restantea service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it
Cite this entry
poste restante. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poste%20restante
“poste restante.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poste%20restante. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “poste restante,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poste%20restante.
Source: poste restante on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.