reimbursement

American  

[ree-im-burs-muhnt] / ˌri ɪmˈbɜrs mənt /

noun

• reimbursements
  plural

1. repayment for an expense or loss incurred.

   Visitors will receive reimbursement for travel and housing expenses.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonreimbursement
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reimbursements
  plural

Etymology

Origin of reimbursement

reimburse ( def. ) + -ment ( def. )

Explanation

A reimbursement is a repayment for money you've already spent. When you travel for work, you get a reimbursement for your work-related expenses, like hotel bills and plane tickets, but you'll have to pay for that trip to the circus yourself. Reimbursement comes from the Latin root words re, meaning again; in, meaning into; and bursa, meaning purse. So the word reimbursement literally means in a purse again. After your parents' basement flooded, they paid to repair the damage and then got a reimbursement from the insurance company, so that they could put the money they spent in their purse again.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reimbursement reimbursements

The American chain said it received a $994 million pre-tax reimbursement, which resulted in its second quarter operating income doubling to $2.6bn from $1.3bn last year.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

For years, Homeland Security relied on a unit of the Department of Veterans Affairs, its financial services center, to process reimbursement claims for detainee medical care.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

The spokeswoman also said JPMorgan’s reimbursement standards met or exceeded what the law required.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Chase had internally calculated the amount of money it would cost to change its fraud reimbursement policies and $100 million is a “bare minimum,” the letter said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Others simply say, “You will receive no reimbursement for donating tissue.”

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Prosecutor Denise Osei said Morecroft repeatedly lied about making "out of pocket" payments for which he had requested "reimbursements" from treasurer Joshua Holvey.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Should you need to return home early, don’t expect reimbursements from your travel agent or the hotels or tours you paid for.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

Prosecutors allege that Rowan and his co-conspirators concealed the kickbacks by using fake invoices and shell companies to inflate Medicare reimbursements while funneling payments to medical providers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Florida AG James Uthmeier said he is examining whether CVS’s PBM steers patients to its own pharmacies and pays its pharmacies higher reimbursements than it pays to independent pharmacies.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

Though he still chased bandits on horseback, the work was generally less dangerous; in many cases, it involved unmasking individuals who had filed false claims for reimbursements.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Related Words

• payment
• remuneration
• repayment
• restitution