go postal
/ˌɡəʊ ˈpəʊstl̩/
"go-postal" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“go postal” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To become aggressive and erratic, especially due to stress; specifically, to carry out a shooting spree at a workplace environment; also (more generally) to become very angry; to lose one's temper.
Corpus desk
Index EN-go-postal · go postal · English
go postal · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "G" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | go postal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌɡəʊ ˈpəʊstl̩/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “go postal” in English
Rare enough to double-check
go postal is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˌɡəʊ ˈpəʊstl̩/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To become aggressive and erratic, especially due to stress; specifically, to carry out a shooting spree at a workplace environment; also (more generally) to become very angry; to lose one's temper.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for go postal, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From go (“to become”) + postal (“relating to the collection, sorting and delivery of mail”), from a number of incidents, mostly gun violence, perpetrated by disgruntled U.S. Postal Service workers on co-workers in the United States in the mid 1980s. The correct English form is go postal, spelled G-O- -P-O-S-T-A-L.
Definition
- 1To become aggressive and erratic, especially due to stress; specifically, to carry out a shooting spree at a workplace environment; also (more generally) to become very angry; to lose one's temper.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how go postal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Violence that spills in from the streets may be less worrisome than the worker rampages, to judge by the attentive audience of personnel managers (and the consultants available for hire) at "A Growing American Phenomenon: Workplace Violence." The symposium was sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service, which has seen so many outbursts that in some circles exce…
Etymology
From go (“to become”) + postal (“relating to the collection, sorting and delivery of mail”), from a number of incidents, mostly gun violence, perpetrated by disgruntled U.S. Postal Service workers on co-workers in the United States in the mid 1980s.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.