reimburse
Americanverb (used with object)
-
reimburses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
reimbursed,
past participle, past
-
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
-
reimbursernoun
-
nonreimbursedadjective
-
reimbursableadjective
-
unreimbursableadjective
-
unreimbursedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
reimbursesimple
-
reimbursessimple
-
have reimbursedperfect
-
has reimbursedperfect
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am reimbursingprogressive
-
are reimbursingprogressive
-
is reimbursingprogressive
-
have been reimbursingperfect progressive
-
has been reimbursingperfect progressive
Past
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reimbursedsimple
-
had reimbursedperfect
-
was reimbursingprogressive
-
were reimbursingprogressive
-
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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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:
In a civil case such as this, the legal convention is that the losing party must reimburse "reasonable" legal fees incurred by the other side.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
The deal said the city could keep the first $25 million in tax revenue from the stadium every year, then use the revenue generated beyond that to reimburse Kroenke’s companies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Ross and Wynn are asking the court to overturn the tax and reimburse them for the costs of this lawsuit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
On social media, she asked strangers whether she should ask the seller to reimburse the cost of appraisals and inspections.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
The college would reimburse me for my travel expenses if their scholarship offer was accepted.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
The Justice Department says Blanche’s campaign “appearances are reviewed and cleared by the Department’s ethics officials” and that he reimburses travel expenses “in accordance with federal law, regulations, and policies.”
From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2026
The organization licenses her films and reimburses costs to her production company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
For example, it’s found a way it thinks Medicare could save $156.9 billion by changing how it reimburses doctors for certain outpatient services.
From MarketWatch ● May 14, 2026
But the company stumbled last year, tripped up by rising medical costs and changes to how the government reimburses private insurers.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
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
An exception is Medigap premiums, which can’t be reimbursed with HSA funds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The residents will now be reimbursed the excess charges they have paid.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The city was awarded a $300,000 grant from the vehicle authority to cover most of the cost of its cameras in fiscal year 2026, none of which has been reimbursed, according to the agency’s records.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
“The Authority improperly reimbursed consultants for travel expenses that appeared unallowable under regulations intended to ensure economy to the State.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
On the one hand, Hamilton’s recommendation looked straightforward: All citizens who owned government securities should be reimbursed at par—that is, the full value of the government’s original promise.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Some have proposed reimbursing fishers or using acoustic deterrents instead of mass slaughter.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
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
The U.K.’s Theatre Tax Relief hands non-touring productions a 40% tax credit, reimbursing producers for nearly half their upfront costs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 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
When Eliot’s mother arrived at quarter to six, Mr. Sen told her the details of the accident and offered a check reimbursing November’s payment.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
