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remittance

American  
[ri-mit-ns] / rɪˈmɪt ns /

noun

  • remittances
    plural
  1. the sending of money, checks, etc., to a recipient at a distance.

  2. money or its equivalent sent from one place to another.


remittance British  
/ rɪˈmɪtəns /

noun

  1. payment for goods or services received or as an allowance, esp when sent by post

  2. the act of remitting

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Etymology

Origin of remittance

First recorded in 1695–1705; remit + -ance

Explanation

A remittance is a payment that gets sent somewhere else. If you get a bill in the mail, you will usually have at least a week to send your remittance. To "remit" is to send money or make a payment and what you send is called remittance. Buying anything from a website involves a remittance — usually from a grownup's credit card, just as keeping your cell phone going requires a regular remittance to cover minutes and messages. If you go on a trip and run out of money, you might need an emergency remittance for a plane or train ticket to get home.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing remittance

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:

On one hand, PayPal’s assets, which also include Venmo, Braintree and remittance products, “are deeply synergistic,” wrote Bernstein analyst Harshita Rawat.

From MarketWatch Feb. 4, 2026

PayPal launched its dollar-backed stablecoin with Paxos Trust in 2023 and has incorporated its stablecoin into its remittance service, Xoom.

From The Wall Street Journal Oct. 28, 2025

In some countries, "the regulations governing who can act as a remittance provider can be quite stifling," says Ravenna Sohst, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute Europe.

From BBC Apr. 29, 2024

In some households, remittance money is “spent on something without any benefit for the family,” said Castillo Villegas.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 26, 2024

On the twenty-fifth of each month, the remittance reports arrived on his computer screen, and he scanned them for any upticks in delinquencies.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Originally built around low-fee, foreign-currency transactions, Revolut is widely used by international travelers and migrants sending remittances home.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 4, 2026

They’ve also caught on as a low-cost alternative for remittances and as an easy way for consumers in countries with high inflation to protect their spending power.

From Barron's Jun. 30, 2026

Kenya relies heavily on remittances from workers abroad.

From Barron's Jun. 22, 2026

"Kerala continued to rely heavily on remittances from abroad, which have wavered, creating mounting fiscal pressures and inadequate employment generation, especially among youth," says Ruparelia.

From BBC May 26, 2026

It was a belated admission that tens of thousands of famine-stricken North Koreans had already gone to China and that the country was increasingly dependent on their remittances.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

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