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.

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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

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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

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Etymology

Origin of invoice

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

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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

When that EIA average changes, it lands on the shipper’s next invoice.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 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

With one client, for example, the pod started with a use case around automating invoice processing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

The ban is only one month as Kyrgios has provided an invoice which shows he has paid for a treatment programme, which began on 28 August.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

Pursuit planes were traded for additional cargo ships or retained for emergency invoice duty and small-parcel service; trucks and tanks were procured from the ground forces and used for short-distance road hauling.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

I’ll also be checking out Folia, a planning site I heard about that helps you track just about everything including budget, invoices, guest list and seating chart.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Andrew Hernandez, president of the Metro Baseball Academy, shared email exchanges and invoices dating to July demonstrating that the academy had been paying for its use of the athletic fields.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

It is unclear whether the payment reflected in the invoices viewed by the Journal was ultimately made.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

There were reports of vendors suing LIV over unpaid invoices, and of prize money being paid more slowly than normal - although BBC Sport understands that latter issue has been resolved.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

I sat on the floor and separated the invoices from the checks.

From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen

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

From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2024

Atos has invoiced the government for contracts worth about £6bn since 2016 and currently has more than 40 government contracts worth nearly £1bn.

From BBC ● Jun. 19, 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

The school invoiced the nonprofit for the last installment of these funds in December.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2024

“I didn’t know that he invoiced you for that tile until now. I didn’t think that was something he’d do.”

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

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

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

However, in today’s business environment of electronic bank transfers and internet invoicing, this shouldn’t be a problem for most companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 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

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

They were the correspondence typists; our books and invoicing had long since overflowed into the premises we had had the luck to secure on either side of us.

From Tono Bungay by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

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