receipt

American  

[ri-seet] / rɪˈsit /

noun

• receipts
  plural

1. a written acknowledgment of having received, or taken into one's possession, a specified amount of money, goods, etc.

2. receipts, the amount or quantity received.

   Economic austerity diminished the government’s tax receipts.

3. the act of receiving or the state of being received.

   We are in receipt of your letter requesting a copy of the report.

4. something that is received.

5. Slang. receipts, evidence or proof.

   There's no way he's a crook—show me the receipts!

6. Archaic. recipe.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to acknowledge in writing the payment of (a bill).

   The check was dated January 9, and the invoice was receipted on January 15.

2. to give a receipt for (money, goods, etc.).

verb (used without object)

1. to give a receipt, as for money or goods.

receipt British  

/ rɪˈsiːt /

noun

1. a written acknowledgment by a receiver of money, goods, etc, that payment or delivery has been made

2. the act of receiving or fact of being received

3. (usually plural) an amount or article received

4. archaic another word for recipe

---

verb

1. (tr) to acknowledge payment of (a bill), as by marking it

2. to issue a receipt for (money, goods, etc)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonreceipt
  noun
• prereceipt
  verb (used with object)
• unreceipted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• receipts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of receipt

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English receite, receyt, from Anglo-French, from Old French recete, reçoite, recoite or directly from Medieval Latin recepta “money received, receipt, recipe,” feminine past participle of recipere “to receive,” from Latin; see origin at receive

Explanation

You know that slim, white piece of paper the grocery store clerk gives you that lists everything you bought, how much you paid, and the change you received? That's a receipt. A receipt is proof you bought and paid for something. At most stores, you need it if you're going to return what you bought. People collect receipts on business trips, so their employers will pay them back for what they purchased while away. Less commonly, receipt can be used as a verb, as in, "The clerk receipted my purchases," meaning that the clerk gave written proof that the items were paid for.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

receipt receipts

The fund tends to hold stocks as listed locally, although in some cases it holds an American depositary receipt traded in the U.S.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

Government statistics, external showed there were 97,519 people in receipt of asylum support at the end of March, with 20,885 in hotel accommodation.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Although receipt of the letter does not indicate that someone definitively cheated, an unspecified number of cases have been referred to district attorneys for prosecution, the spokesperson said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

His receipt of the Combat Action Ribbon leaves no doubt of his sacrifice—they do not just hand those out.

From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026

He showed me the receipt stapled to one of the bags, because sometimes with numbers it was hard to understand what Wei was saying.

From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

The largest increases in revenue came from national insurance contributions, which were up by £2.4bn, and income tax receipts, up by £1.5bn.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

Like any other government receipts, the tariff income was used to cover everything the government pays for, including healthcare and national security.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

At the time it said that despite the scale and depth of U.S. capital markets, switching its listing or having a sponsored American depositary receipts program wouldn’t offer better value for shareholders at that time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

To disappoint investors just a few weeks after its $29 billion listing of depositary receipts on Nasdaq demonstrated poor “communication and messaging,” he wrote.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

Without all of the receipts having been counted yet, the running total for the evening was already over $21,000.

From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick

Related Words

• certificate
• voucher