send
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause, permit, or enable to go.
to send a messenger; They sent their son to college.
- Antonyms:
- receive
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to cause to be conveyed or transmitted to a destination.
to send a letter.
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to order, direct, compel, or force to go.
The president sent troops to Asia.
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to direct, propel, or deliver to a particular point, position, condition, or direction.
to send a punch to the jaw; The punch sent the fighter reeling.
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to emit, discharge, or utter (usually followed by off, out, orthrough ).
The lion sent a roar through the jungle.
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to cause to occur or befall.
The people beseeched Heaven to send peace to their war-torn village.
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Electricity.
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to transmit (a signal).
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to transmit (an electromagnetic wave or the like) in the form of pulses.
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Slang. to delight or excite.
Frank Sinatra's records used to send her.
verb (used without object)
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to dispatch a messenger, agent, message, etc.
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Electricity. to transmit a signal.
The ship's radio sends on a special band of frequencies.
verb phrase
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send out
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to distribute; issue.
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to send on the way; dispatch.
They sent out their final shipment last week.
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to order delivery.
We sent out for coffee.
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send in to cause to be dispatched or delivered to a destination.
Send in your contest entries to this station.
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send off to cause to depart or to be conveyed from oneself; dispatch; dismiss.
His teacher sent him off to the principal's office.
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send forth
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to produce; bear; yield.
plants sending forth new leaves.
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to dispatch out of a country as an export.
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to issue, as a publication.
They have sent forth a report to the stockholders.
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to emit or discharge.
The flowers sent forth a sweet odor.
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send for to request the coming or delivery of; summon.
If her temperature goes up, send for the doctor.
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send down to expel, especially from Oxford or Cambridge.
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send up
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to release or cause to go upward; let out.
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Informal. to sentence or send to prison.
He was convicted and sent up for life.
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to expose the flaws or foibles of through parody, burlesque, caricature, lampoon, or other forms of satire.
The new movie sends up merchants who commercialize Christmas.
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idioms
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send packing, to dismiss curtly; send away in disgrace.
The cashier was stealing, so we sent him packing.
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send round, to circulate or dispatch widely.
Word was sent round about his illness.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to cause or order (a person or thing) to be taken, directed, or transmitted to another place
to send a letter
she sent the salesman away
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to dispatch a request or command (for something or to do something)
he sent for a bottle of wine
he sent to his son to come home
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(tr) to direct or cause to go to a place or point
his blow sent the champion to the floor
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(tr) to bring to a state or condition
this noise will send me mad
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(tr; often foll by forth, out, etc) to cause to issue; emit
his cooking sent forth a lovely smell from the kitchen
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(tr) to cause to happen or come
misery sent by fate
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to transmit (a message) by radio, esp in the form of pulses
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slang (tr) to move to excitement or rapture
this music really sends me
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to dismiss or get rid of someone
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to dismiss or get rid of (someone) peremptorily
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of send
First recorded before 900; Middle English senden, Old English sendan; cognate with German senden, Gothic sandjan; akin to Old English sīth “journey,” sand “message, messenger”
Explanation
When you get something to end up at a destination, you send it. You can send an email, send a package, or even send a student to the dean's office. You can send a message in a letter or in an email, or you can send a rocket up into the air. You can also send a person somewhere: "My parents used to send me to camp every summer." If you kick someone out, you send them packing: "If my roommate whistles that song one more time, I swear I'll send her packing." And if you're really irritated, you might even send them flying, or knock them down.
Vocabulary lists containing send
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Rather than send wheat to Minneapolis to be processed, incurring high transportation costs, farmers and the state banded together to form the North Dakota Mill, the only state-owned mill in the United States.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
Experts say the age of pipes, the corrosive soil they’re buried in and pressure changes in pipes that send water to hillside neighborhoods all contribute to breaks across the aging system.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
James did send his regrets to some of his other suitors, posting: "Thank you LA. Miami I'll forever love and Northeast Ohio will always be home!"
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Most states need to send cyclospora specimens to the CDC for genetic fingerprinting because their own public-health laboratories can’t do it, Williams said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Grandma, you didn’t send me the gold Flash. This isn’t your fault.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Alphabet’s losses spread to other tech stocks, sending the Magnificent Seven to their biggest collective one-day drop in market value since the tariff turmoil last April.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
For Piastri, it was academic in the end, a gearbox failure sending him into retirement and denying McLaren a one-two.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Other EU countries have been sending help to Spain and France in the form of aircraft, fire crews and vehicles.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
Tucker came close to hitting a second homer, sending a fastball to left field in the fourth inning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
He was risking sending her into an endless, everlasting unrest.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Substantial amounts of money investors sent him were actually used to buy a house, a court heard in June 2025.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
He was sent to live with relatives before being taken to London, believing he would be reunited with his father.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Sazerac sent a letter to Brown-Forman shareholders asking them to reconsider its previously rejected $15 billion buyout offer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
What Klein wanted to be an outside pitch drifted in, and Semien connected for a three-run home run that sent the Dodgers to an 8-3 loss Sunday at Citi Field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
The words were swallowed by the suffocating spray of a skunk, which sent more than a few animals cowering and crying in every direction.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
