address

Meanings

1. The details of where a building or place is located, used for finding it or sending mail.
2. A formal speech.
3. A code that tells a computer where something is, as in an email address.

Example sentences

• "Please write your home address at the top of the form."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

• "What is your email address?"

  Level A1, Meaning 3

• "The president gave an address to the nation."

  Level B2, Meaning 2

• "The school must address this problem."

  Level B1, Meaning 1

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• location : A location is a place on a map. An address is the written set of details used to find or send to a place.
• speech : A speech is any talk to an audience. An address is a formal one.

Word family and forms

Forms: addresses

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "address".

• home address
• email address
• a web address
• change of address
• address a problem
• give an address

Origin

Address comes from Middle English adressen, which meant to straighten or to adorn, from Old French adrecier, to straighten or to address. The French word is built from ad, meaning to, and a word that means straight or direct, so to address was to direct something toward a target.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Address has two d's and two s's. Remember: add a dress, two of each.

Test yourself

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