invoice

American  

[in-vois] / ˈɪn vɔɪs /

noun

• invoices
  plural

1. an itemized bill for goods sold or services provided, containing individual prices, the total charge, and the terms.

2. the merchandise or shipment itself.

---

verb (used with object)

• invoices,
  present (3rd person singular)
• invoiced,
  past participle,  past
• invoicing
  present participle

1. to present an invoice to.

   The manufacturer invoiced us for six whiteboards.

2. to present an invoice for.

   five chairs invoiced and shipped last month.

verb (used without object)

• invoices,
  present (3rd person singular)
• invoiced,
  past participle,  past
• invoicing
  present participle

1. to prepare or submit an invoice.

2. to have a value if or when inventoried.

   The merchandise in stock invoiced far more than we expected.

invoice British  

/ ˈɪnvɔɪs /

noun

1. a document issued by a seller to a buyer listing the goods or services supplied and stating the sum of money due

---

verb

1. (tr)

   1. to present (a customer) with an invoice

   2. to list (merchandise sold) on an invoice

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• uninvoiced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• invoices
  plural

Participles

• invoicing
  present
• invoiced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• invoice
  simple
• invoices
  simple
• have invoiced
  perfect
• has invoiced
  perfect
• am invoicing
  progressive
• are invoicing
  progressive
• is invoicing
  progressive
• have been invoicing
  perfect progressive
• has been invoicing
  perfect progressive

Past

• invoiced
  simple
• had invoiced
  perfect
• was invoicing
  progressive
• were invoicing
  progressive
• had been invoicing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will invoice
  simple
• will have invoiced
  perfect
• will be invoicing
  progressive
• will have been invoicing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of invoice

First recorded in 1550–60; variant of invoyes, plural of obsolete invoy, variant of envoy ¹

Explanation

An invoice is an itemized statement of the money that's owed for goods or services. If you buy books online, they will usually arrive with an invoice telling what books you bought and how much they cost. Invoice comes from the French verb envoyer, which means to send, and "send" is a verb often used with the noun invoice, like when the online bookstore sends you an invoice. The same sense occurs when you use invoice as a verb. If you tell someone to invoice you for work they've done, you're asking them to send you a bill.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

invoice invoices invoiced invoicing

AgentCollect, which uses AI agents for invoice collection, is down to around 30 employees from a peak of 50.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

Then, several days later, I tried to send my invoice for 1,000 pounds, roughly $1,340.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

On “Obsession,” the complaint says, Darby was paid $300,000 out of the film’s initial minimum guarantee after Tea Shop directed her company, Runt Productions, to invoice for “Services: Obsession.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Among them are Medway Council chiefs who say they will use AI to "draft care plans" and automate invoice processing.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The final page contains his own signature, a flourish of illegible C’s, carefully snipped from a piece of paper that might have been an invoice or a letter.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Hernandez included email exchanges and invoices dating back to July, demonstrating that the MBA had been paying the necessary fees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026

Customers have shared their outrage after an app used by many businesses to track timesheets and produce invoices hiked bills by as much as 1500%, with one person calling it "daylight robbery".

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The simple fact is that U.S. tariff invoices issued by the Treasury Department are sent to the U.S. businesses that import the foreign products.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

The grants run on an annual basis, and once a contract is in place, organizations can begin submitting invoices to be reimbursed for services such as rental assistance and emergency shelter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

There was a stack of freight invoices that had piled up on my desk, and I had to go through them all.

From "The Stranger" by Albert Camus

The responding NHS trusts invoiced a total of £223m for such treatments over the five-year period, but £112m was subsequently written off as bad debt.

From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2024

The city of Mesa unsuccessfully invoiced the campaign $64,477.56 for an October 2018 rally.

From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2024

An artist who offered me $14 an hour to be her assistant, then forgot to pay me when I invoiced.

From Slate ● May 18, 2024

Afflicted vendors included big players such as Apple, which is still owed more than half of the $661,000 invoiced since July, UW officials say.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2023

He can’t hurt those big boxes: they are invoiced as “clay,” and to pull them about is as harmless a thing as he can do.

From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

Self-employed people might postpone year-end invoicing to the following year.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

While official dollar reserve holdings remain relatively stable, trade invoicing is gradually shifting toward other currencies, signaling incremental diversification in global payments.

From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026

More businesses are signing onto Intuit’s QuickBooks platform in an effort to cut down on hours of administrative work by automating accounting, invoicing and payroll processes, CFO Sandeep Aujla said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025

The company said it was "working to clear a backlog of payments" to suppliers as it now had increased its processing capacity for invoicing.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025

Internet banking, Internet gambling, day trading, foreign exchange cyber transactions, e-cash, e-commerce, fictitious invoicing of the launderer's genuine credit cards - hold the promise of the future.

From Crime and Corruption by Samuel Vaknin