postil

P3O1S1T1I1L1
/ˈpɒstɪl//ˈpɒstəl/

noun

A Bible commentary written in its margins.

OriginFrench postille ← Late Latin postilla →
Scrabble 8
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

postil1

nounpostil (plural postils)

plural postils

  1. archaicA Bible commentary written in its margins.
  2. A marginal note.
  3. A short homily or commentary on a passage of Scripture.
  4. A collection of homilies.

postil2

verbpostil (third-person singular simple present postils, present participle (US) postiling or (UK) postilling, simple past and past participle (US) postiled or (UK) postilled)

present singular third person postils · US participle present postiling · UK participle present postilling · US participle past postiled · US past postiled · UK participle past postilled · UK past postilled

  1. transitiveTo write marginal or explanatory notes on; to gloss.

    postilled in the margin

    1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC
  2. intransitiveTo write postils, or marginal notes; to comment; to postillate.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
postillate

Origin

postil · noun

  1. Late Latinpostilla
  2. Frenchpostille“marginal note”
  3. Englishpostil

From French postille (“marginal note”), from Late Latin postilla, probably from post illa (verba) (“after those (words)”).

More words from French, Late Latin

Full word history & related roots →

postil · verb

  1. Late Latinpostillo
  2. Englishpostil

From Late Latin postillo.

More words from Late Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish reunahuomautus, postilla
  • reunahuomautusmarginal note
  • postillacollection of homilies
  • saarnakokoelmacollection of homilies
  • hartauskirjacollection of homilies
German Randbemerkung, Randnotiz
  • Randbemerkungmarginal note
  • Randnotizmarginal note
  • Marginaliemarginal note
  • Postillecollection of homilies
Polish postylla, postylla
  • postyllamarginal note
  • postyllashort homily
  • postyllacollection of homilies
Portuguese postil
  • postilcollection of homilies
Russian пости́лла, пости́лла
  • пости́лла (postílla)marginal note
  • пости́лла (postílla)short homily
Spanish sermonario
  • sermonariocollection of homilies
Swedish postilla
  • postillacollection of homilies

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with postil

hostelhostilePentecostalcostalintercostal
All rhymes →

Anagrams

pistolspoiltsploitToplis
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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