Meanings
present singular third person reimburses · participle present reimbursing · participle past reimbursed · past reimbursed
- transitiveTo compensate (someone) with payment; especially, to repay money spent on someone's behalf.
The company will reimburse you for your expenses for the business trip.
1 more example
You can tell this funny monkey story, but please keep and mind and tell people that the man who lost all his fruit to the monkeys was entirely reimbursed.
2006 May 9, Penn Jillette, Michael Goudeau, quoting Rudy, 15:35 from the start, in Penn RadioSynonyms: imburse
- transitiveTo recoup (funds spent).
He has spent many years on the automaton, and it must have cost thousands of pounds in experiment and construction. He makes no secret of hoping to reimburse his outlay.
1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo compensate (someone) with payment; especially, to repay money spent on someone's behalf.
More synonyms by meaning
verbreimburse or compensate (someone), as for a loss
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchen-“in”
- Middle Frenchembourser
- Italianrimborsàre
- Middle Frenchrembourser
- Englishreimburse
1591, re- (“back”) + imburse (“pay”, literally “put in a purse”) (perhaps after Middle French rembourser or Italian rimborsàre), from Middle French embourser, from Old French en- (“in”) + borser (“to get money”), from borse (“purse”), from Medieval Latin bursa (English purse).
More words from Middle French, Italian, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian връщам, възстановявам
- връщам (vrăštam)to compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- възстановявам (văzstanovjavam)to compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Catalan reemborsar
- reemborsarto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Chinese Mandarin 報銷 /报销
- 報銷 /报销 (Bàoxiāo)to compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Danish godtgøre, tilbagebetale
- godtgøreto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- tilbagebetaleto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Dutch rembourseren, vergoeden
- rembourserento compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- vergoedento compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- terugbetalento compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Esperanto repagi
- repagito compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Estonian hüvitama, korvama
- hüvitamato compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- korvamato compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Finnish hyvittää, korvata
- hyvittääto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- korvatato compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
French rembourser
- rembourserto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
German erstatten
- erstattento compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Hungarian megtérít
- megtérítto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Irish cúitigh
- cúitighto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Italian rimborsare
- rimborsareto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Japanese 返金, 返済
- 返金 (henkin)to compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- 返済 (henzai)to compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Māori whakahoki moni
- whakahoki monito compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Polish zwracać koszty, zwrócić koszty
- zwracać kosztyto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- zwrócić kosztyto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- refundowaćto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- zrefundowaćto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Portuguese reembolsar
- reembolsarto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Romanian rambursa
- rambursato compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Russian возмеща́ть, компенси́ровать
- возмеща́ть (vozmeščátʹ)to compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- компенси́ровать (kompensírovatʹ)to compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Spanish reembolsar, pagar
- reembolsarto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- pagarto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Swedish ersätta
- ersättato compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Turkish geri ödemek, telafi etmek
- geri ödemekto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
- telafi etmekto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Welsh ad-dalu
- ad-daluto compensate with pay or money; especially, to repay money spent on one's behalf
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with reimburse
Cite this entry
reimburse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reimburse
“reimburse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reimburse. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reimburse,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reimburse.
Source: reimburse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.