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

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

Last year, Lee got an unexpected invoice from the Merced Irrigation-Urban Groundwater Sustainability Agency.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Lee learned the agency hadn’t yet started charging penalty fees, so the invoice was more of a warning than an actual bill.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Because of that, they are “no longer interchangeable,” he said, which has led Nvidia and other hyperscalers to buy memory on a longer-term contract basis instead of buying on invoice.

From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026

Others are taking half the money upfront, then sending an invoice for the rest of the money before work is completed, or charging late payment fees.

From BBC ● May 10, 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

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

To avoid raising red flags at the banks, A7 uses artificial intelligence to create fake invoices that obscure the real purpose of the transactions, OSC said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 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

When fellow short seller Andrew Left accused Valeant of creating fraudulent invoices, the stock sank further.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

“We need your lead, friend. For ammunition. Good people throughout the city are donating all the lead they own. The Provincial Congress will compensate you, of course. In due time. I’ve invoices prepared.”

From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson

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

In response, the BBC provided "the fees incurred on legal advice and counsel fees which have been invoiced to and paid by the BBC to date" for both Ms Traynor's and Ms Ferguson's cases.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2023

“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

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

But we won’t be trusted to take that on unless we can handle our procurement and our contracting and our invoicing.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2023

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