address

address — noun

1. the house number, street name, and town used to label someone's home or workplac

1.nounA1
Definition

the house number, street name, and town used to label someone's home or workplace so that mail can reach them.

Example

Sami wrote her new address on the back of the envelope before posting the card.

write someone's address on something

Could you give me your home address so I can drop the parcel off later?

home address (collocation)

Common collocations
  • home address
  • work address
  • postal address
  • forwarding address
  • permanent address
Synonyms
  • location

    more general; can mean any place, not specifically where someone lives

  • residence

    formal; emphasises the building someone lives in rather than the postal label

Grammar Patterns

someone's address

send something to an address

Usage Note

Often paired with possessives (my, her, the company's) or with the prepositions 'at' (live at this address) and 'to' (send something to an address).

Common Mistakes

I live in this address.
I live at this address.
use 'at', not 'in', with a specific street address.

2. the actual building or place that a person or organisation calls home, often use

2.nounA2
Definition

the actual building or place that a person or organisation calls home, often used to say where they are based.

Example

The charity has its main address in a quiet street near the river.

have an address in [place]

Xander is moving to a smaller address closer to her elderly parents.

move to an address

Common collocations
  • a fashionable address
  • a desirable address
  • a fixed address
Synonyms
  • home

    warmer, more personal; emphasises living rather than location

  • place

    informal; 'her place' is conversational for the address where she lives

Grammar Patterns

have an address in [place]

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense names the physical home or base itself, while sense 1 names the line of text (street, town, etc.) used for delivery. Often appears with verbs of movement: 'move to', 'leave', 'return to'.

3. a string of letters, numbers, and symbols that points to a website or to the inb

3.nounA1
Definition

a string of letters, numbers, and symbols that points to a website or to the inbox where someone receives email.

Example

Please type the email address into the form, and double-check the spelling.

email address (collocation)

The web address for the museum starts with 'www' and ends in '.tw'.

web address (collocation)

Common collocations
  • email address
  • web address
  • valid address
  • fake address
Synonyms
  • URL

    technical; refers specifically to web addresses

  • link

    informal; usually means a clickable address rather than the text itself

Grammar Patterns

email/web address

address of a website

Usage Note

Almost always preceded by 'email', 'web', 'website', or 'IP'. Without one of these qualifiers in modern English, listeners assume sense 1 (the postal one).

Common Mistakes

Send me your address.' (when meaning email)
Send me your email address.
without 'email', most people will give you their postal address.

4. a number used inside a computer system to label exactly where one piece of data

4.noun
Definition

a number used inside a computer system to label exactly where one piece of data sits in memory or on a disk.

Example

The program crashed when it tried to read from an invalid memory address.

memory address (technical collocation)

Each variable in the code is given its own address inside the chip's memory.

Common collocations
  • memory address
  • physical address
  • virtual address
  • base address
Synonyms
  • pointer

    in programming, a value whose content is an address

  • location

    broader; an address is a numeric form of a memory location

Grammar Patterns

address in memory

memory address

Usage Note

Restricted to programming and hardware contexts. Subject is usually a low-level term such as 'pointer', 'register', 'variable', 'instruction'. Distinguish from sense 3: this is hidden inside the machine, while sense 3 is visible to ordinary users.

5. a planned, serious talk given in front of a group, often by someone in a positio

5.nounB2
Definition

a planned, serious talk given in front of a group, often by someone in a position of authority.

Example

The president's New Year address focused on the economy and rising rents.

[Person]'s address focused on [topic]

Dr. Tariq delivered the keynote address at the medical conference in Taipei.

deliver the keynote address

Common collocations
  • keynote address
  • opening address
  • inaugural address
  • farewell address
Synonyms
  • speech

    more general; an address is usually more formal and prepared

  • lecture

    tends to be longer and educational; an address is often ceremonial

Grammar Patterns

give/deliver an address

an address to [audience]

Usage Note

Common in news and ceremonial contexts. Frequently combined with verbs 'give', 'deliver', 'make' and modifiers 'keynote', 'opening', 'inaugural', 'farewell'.

Common Mistakes

He said an address at the meeting.
He gave an address at the meeting.
use 'give' or 'deliver', not 'say', with this noun.

address — verb

Word family

  • addressee
    nounC1
  • addressable
    adjectiveC2
  • unaddressed
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/2

All five verbs describe responding to a difficult situation, but they differ in tone and energy. 'Address' is the most planned and formal — typical of policy documents, manager memos, or official statements: 'the report addresses inequality'. 'Tackle' is more energetic and informal, suggesting someone is rolling up their sleeves to begin work: 'we need to tackle waste in the kitchen'. 'Deal with' is the most neutral, everyday choice — it covers any kind of response, from quick fixes to long projects: 'I'll deal with the complaint after lunch'. 'Handle' tends to mean ongoing management rather than the first attempt at a solution: 'she handles all customer issues'. 'Confront' is the strongest — it implies facing something painful or unpleasant directly, often emotionally: 'he finally confronted his fear of flying'. So a politician might address poverty in a speech, then tackle one cause first, deal with citizens' letters daily, handle press questions calmly, and only confront the issue head-on when forced to.

address ↗tackle ↗deal with ↗handle ↗confront ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • the audience
  • the crowd
  • the nation
  • the issue
  • the problem
  • the question
  • concerns
  • an envelope
  • a letter

Adverbs

Phrases

  • address the elephant in the room
  • address a wide audience
  • fail to address

Prepositions

  • address something to someone
  • address as
  • address from

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

'Address' came into English in the late 1300s from Old French 'adrecier', meaning to set straight or direct, which was built from Latin 'ad-' (toward) and a root meaning 'to make right'. The earliest English uses meant to aim or direct something, including arrows and speech. From there it grew in two directions: pointing words at a person (which became the speech-related senses) and pointing letters at a place (which became the postal sense). The modern computing sense — a code that points to data — kept this same idea of 'something that directs you to where you need to go'.