reimburse
Americanverb (used with object)
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reimburses,
present (3rd person singular)
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reimbursed,
past participle, past
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reimbursing
present participle
-
to make repayment to for expense or loss incurred.
The insurance company reimbursed him for his losses in the fire.
- Synonyms:
- redress, recoup, indemnify, remunerate, recompense
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reimbursementnoun
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reimbursernoun
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nonreimbursedadjective
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reimbursableadjective
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unreimbursableadjective
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unreimbursedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reimbursesimple
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reimbursessimple
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have reimbursedperfect
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has reimbursedperfect
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am reimbursingprogressive
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are reimbursingprogressive
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is reimbursingprogressive
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have been reimbursingperfect progressive
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has been reimbursingperfect progressive
Past
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reimbursedsimple
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had reimbursedperfect
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was reimbursingprogressive
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were reimbursingprogressive
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had been reimbursingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reimburse
First recorded in 1605–15; re- + obsolete imburse “to put into a purse, pay,” from Medieval Latin imbursāre, equivalent to Latin im- im- 1 + Medieval Latin -bursāre, derivative of bursa “bag” ( see purse)
Explanation
If you buy a basketball for your school team with your own money, and you ask your coach to reimburse you, you are asking him to pay you back. To reimburse is to compensate for an expense or loss. The person who collects money at a college is the bursar, a purse is where you store money, and reimburse means to pay money back. All three of these words share the Latin root bursa 'moneybag.' If you want to be paid back for overpaid tuition, ask the bursar, Mr. Moneybags, to reimburse you from the schools purse.
Vocabulary lists containing reimburse
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Richard Nixon's "Checkers" Speech (1952)
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Wonder
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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:
Insurers say they’ve already paid more than $1 billion in claims and costs related to theft and attempted theft of vulnerable vehicles — money they now want the carmakers to reimburse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
After the $250 annual deductible for each dog, the policy was supposed to reimburse up to 80% of covered veterinary expenses.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Credit-card perks: Some premium cards or frequent-flier programs will reimburse you for the membership fee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
According to the written judgement of the verdict published in March, the man agreed to reimburse Rose for her travel and accommodation.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
“But if I go to jail,” Scruggs said thoughtfully, “I won’t be able to reimburse you for your watch.”
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
Medicare reimburses providers for the use of skin substitutes for wound care.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2026
Finding the right size hasn’t been easy: UnitedHealth’s medical cost ratio—the amount it reimburses patients as a percent of insurance revenue—has risen for each of the past three years, pressuring margins.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reimburses the Medicare Advantage plan for the administration of Medicare benefits.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2025
This reimburses you for nonrefundable travel expenses like prepaid vacation packages or vacation rentals, cruises, tours, tickets and transportation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
In one class of case, offences committed in the admiralty jurisdiction, i.e. outside England, the treasury directly reimburses to the local authorities the expense incurred.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" by Various
WASHINGTON—President Trump said that Donald Trump Jr. reimbursed a Russian businessman who financed his son’s lavish wedding afterparty in the Bahamas earlier this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Serving as an executor is a time-consuming and thankless job, and you should be reimbursed for your time.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
The decision means that Lainault, who is in remission from her cancer, can take early retirement with any further treatment fully reimbursed by the French health system.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Under the claim program announced Monday, residents and businesses are to be reimbursed for expenses such as hotel stays, loss of use, meals, transportation and loss of wages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
“I’m not going to get reimbursed for all the food I fed it.”
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
In a statement in 2022, Wales said she had sent a cheque in 2019 reimbursing the council for most of the spending to stop "electorally motivated questions".
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Los Angeles officials have reached a tentative agreement with organizers of the 2028 Olympic Games laying out the process for reimbursing the city for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in public services.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2026
By the time he returned to Congress in early 2024, the House was reimbursing members for lodging expenses in Washington.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
A big part of that was because the state started reimbursing providers 40% of whatever they billed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
I think perhaps she saw the wide twisted mouth and embarrassed eyes of Martin Hopps on her and felt that in some way she was reimbursing him for his stolen life.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
