express

ik-SPRES/ɪkˈspɹɛs/

Verbexpresses, expressing, expressed

Noun pluralexpresses

20 meanings of express

Practice

1
communicateverbtransitive
To make thoughts, feelings, or ideas known through words, actions, or signs.
The poem expresses deep grief over a lost friend.
Volunteers express their support by signing the open letter.
Usageexpress a feeling to someone; express yourself means show your thoughts or feelings, in words or in other ways.
Similarconvey, communicate, voice, articulate, show
Oppositeconceal, hide, suppress
2
explicitadjective
Stated in clear and direct terms; explicitly set out rather than merely implied.
The contract included an express warranty covering all parts.
He acted against the express wishes of his parents.
UsageUsually right before its noun, in set phrases: express permission, express wishes, express instructions.
Similarclear, explicit, direct, specific, plain
Oppositeimplied
Note
Its natural opposite is implied, and that contrast is the point. An express term is one somebody actually stated, which is why it turns up in copyright notices and in complaints that clear orders were ignored.
3
limited-stopadjective
Describing a train or other service that runs fast and skips the local stops, as in an express train or an express bus.
An express service carries commuters past every minor stop.
She caught the express line to the airport with minutes to spare.
UsageUsually before a noun: an express train, the express bus, express service.
Similarfast
Oppositelocal
4
numbersverbtransitive
To represent a number, quantity, or relationship in a given form or unit.
The students learned to express each ratio as a percentage.
Throughout the report, all prices are expressed in US dollars.
UsageExpress a value as a new form (as a percentage) but in a unit (in dollars).
Similarrepresent, write
5
rush mailnouncountable or uncountable
A service or company whose business is carrying mail or money quickly from one place to another.
The bank sent the signed bonds by express the same afternoon.
He shipped the parcel via express to beat the holiday rush.
UsageUsually by express or via express, with no article.
Similarcourier
6
genesverbtransitive
Of a cell or organism, to make the RNA or protein that a gene codes for, so that the gene has an effect.
Liver cells express enzymes that other tissues hardly make at all.
Liver cells and skin cells carry the same genes, but each kind of cell expresses a very different set of them.
Note
Biologists use the verb for a gene's whole route to an effect: for a protein-coding gene, the DNA is copied into messenger RNA, and that RNA is read into protein. Either the gene or its product can be the object, so a cell expresses a gene and also expresses the protein it codes for. A gene that is not expressed is present in the cell but silent.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Gene expression turns genetic information into a functional product. yourgenome.org
This describes protein-coding genes. Some genes produce functional non-coding RNAs that are not translated into protein. genome.gov
A gene can remain present in a cell without being expressed; such a gene is silent. nationalacademies.org

Less common meanings

7
nouncountable
A fast or direct mode of travel, usually a train, that passes through many stations without stopping.
The morning express reached the city in half the usual time.
Commuters packed the express heading north out of the capital.
UsageUsually the express: take the express, the express to Boston; the train that stops everywhere is the local.
Oppositelocal
Note
On a railway the noun stands for the train itself: you take the express, and a timetable counts a town's daily expresses. Its opposites are local and stopper, the trains that call along the way. Francis Beeding's Death Walks in Eastrepps (1931) shows the contrast in motion, as a swift express turns into something that has stopped three times since Norwich.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Death Walks in Eastrepps is credited to Francis Beeding. fadedpage.com
Death Walks in Eastrepps was first published in 1931. fadedpage.com
The novel describes a swift express becoming a slower stopping service and having stopped three times since Norwich. fadedpage.com
8
verbtransitive
To send an item or package using a rapid delivery service.
If you need the signed contract by Friday, we can express it overnight.
The lab expressed the blood samples to a testing center across the country.
UsageUsually with a time or a place: express it overnight, express the samples to a lab.
Similarship, courier, send
9
quick serviceadjective
Offering a more limited but faster service than a full dealer or store of the same kind.
The chain opened an express outlet offering only its bestselling coffees.
An express branch handles quick repairs but takes no custom orders.
UsageOften follows a store's name and is capitalized as part of it; before a noun too: an express counter.
10
squeeze outverbtransitive
To press or squeeze something so that liquid, especially milk, comes out.
Nurses showed her how to express milk by hand.
The old mill used heavy stone wheels to express oil from the crushed olives.
UsageThe liquid is usually the object: express milk, express oil from olives.
Similarsqueeze, extract, press
Note
The physical sense, and the one that keeps the literal image of pressing out. The object is usually the liquid: you express milk, or the fragrant water of young coconuts in Melville's Moby-Dick (1851). It can also be what holds the liquid, as when a vet expresses a dog's anal glands. The United States Naval Medical Bulletin (1949) describes granules that "could be expressed under pressure."
11
adverb
In a fast or direct manner, as a train that skips local stops, or by a rapid delivery service.
The bus travels express during the morning rush.
They sent the medicine express to the remote clinic.
UsageComes after a verb of travel or sending: runs express, travels express, send it express.
Similarfast
12
nounhistoricalcountable
A person sent in haste on a special errand to deliver something; the courier, not what the courier carries.
A mounted express galloped through the night to warn the town.
I learned, to my inexpressible terror, that at two o'clock, the day before, an express had been sent to Geraldine by Mr Bergasse, with a letter, which he had received from the Hotel de Romagnecourt.
1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond
Similarcourier, messenger, runner
Note
Here the express is a person: the rider or runner sent on one urgent errand. Charlotte Smith's Desmond (1792) has an express "sent to Geraldine… with a letter," which shows the division of labor neatly. The messenger is the express, and the letter is what he carries. The carried dispatch has its own name, the message sent by express, and older prose makes the two easy to confuse.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Desmond is by Charlotte Smith and was first published in 1792. en.wikipedia.org
Desmond contains the quoted wording about an express sent to Geraldine with a letter. en.wiktionary.org
Express can mean a special messenger, and the Desmond example illustrates that meaning. en.wiktionary.org
Express also names what the messenger carries. en.wiktionary.org
13
delivery officenounhistoricalcountable
A local office of a company that handles the rapid shipment of goods, parcels, and money.
He collected the gold shipment from the express before noon.
When the stagecoach came in, half the town squeezed into the express to see whether any letters or money had arrived from the East.
14
nouncountable
A dispatch, message, or parcel carried by a special messenger for fast delivery.
The general unfolded the express and read its contents to the council.
An express arrived from the fort at midnight, and the colonel opened it at once to learn whether the town still held out.
Similardispatch, message, missive
Note
Older prose uses the noun for the dispatch itself. Jonathan Swift's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World (1726) reports that the emperor had early notice of Gulliver's landing "by an express," and blurs the line nicely when "an express requires extraordinary despatch" and the giant must carry messenger and horse in his pocket. An express that is opened or read is the message; one that is sent may be either.
15
nounobsolete
The act of conveying an idea through words or actions; communication or expression.
Whereby they discoursed in silence, and were intuitively understood from the theory of their expresses.
1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica
Note
A near-twin of the obsolete "plain declaration" noun, but it comes from the verb's own line through Old French espresser. It is centered on the act of conveying rather than the image conveyed. Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) describes beings who "discoursed in silence" and were understood from their expresses.
16
commandnounobsolete
A specific statement or instruction given to someone.
Note
An instruction with a definite content, now obsolete. Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) tells of a man sent a hundred fathoms down "with express to take notice" whether coral was hard or soft where it grew. The idea survives in the "explicit" adjective, so a modern writer says express instructions rather than an express.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
The noun meaning a specific statement or instruction is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
Sir Thomas Browne wrote Pseudodoxia Epidemica. en.wikipedia.org
Pseudodoxia Epidemica was first published in 1646. en.wikipedia.org
The work describes a man descending a hundred fathoms and includes the quoted wording. gutenberg.org
The instruction concerned whether coral was hard or soft where it grew underwater. gutenberg.org
17
exact likenessadjectiveliterary
Truly and exactly representing something; closely resembling the original.
The statue stood as the express image of the fallen hero.
The statue in the square was said to be the express image of the town's founder, down to the crooked nose.
Similarexact, precise, faithful, true
Oppositeinexact, approximate
Note
Exactness of likeness rather than of wording: Milton's masque Comus, first performed in 1634, calls the human face "the express resemblance of the gods." Where the "explicit" meaning applies to what is said, this one applies to images and appearances. It can also stand after a verb, as in an image of the spirit that "seemed more express and single" than the face.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
This sense concerns exact representation or resemblance. en.wiktionary.org
Comus is a masque written by John Milton. en.wikipedia.org
Comus was first performed in 1634. en.wikipedia.org
Comus describes the human face using the quoted words, spoken by the Attendant Spirit. gutenberg.org
The final quotation is authentic and illustrates express following a verb; Henry Jekyll uses it of Hyde's appearance in his written statement. gutenberg.org
18
nounobsolete
A clear image or representation of something; an expression or plain declaration.
Note
A noun the language has since let go: what we now call an expression, an image or a representation. Jeremy Taylor's Clerus Domini (1651) calls holy communion "the onely remanent expresse of Christs sacrifice on earth," its one remaining image. It sits close to the "exactly resembling" adjective, naming the likeness rather than describing it.
19
nounPhilippines
A public utility vehicle, usually a jeepney, that travels along an expressway, chiefly in Metro Manila.
20
noun
A hunting rifle designed to fire bullets at high speed, now usually a large-bore rifle used for big-game hunting.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of express apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 2–3, 5, 7, 9, 11–14, 17–18

Latin exprimere had the past participle expressus, which gave French exprès, the source of this word.

Meanings 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15–16

Latin exprimere had a frequentative form that gave Old French espresser or expresser, and English took the word from there.