reimbursement
n.the act of paying someone back for money they have already spent. You usually get this from your company after you pay for things like travel or meals for work.
n.the repayment of funds previously expended by an individual on behalf of an organization or for a specific purpose. Often involves a formal process of submitting receipts for verification.
“I am waiting for my travel reimbursement from the office.”
“The company policy requires employees to submit all receipts within thirty days to qualify for full reimbursement.”
“The finance department streamlined the reimbursement process to ensure that consultants are compensated for out-of-pocket expenses within one business week.”
Uncountable when referring to the general act of paying back; countable when referring to specific payments or instances.
A 'refund' is money returned by a seller to a customer; 'reimbursement' is money returned by an employer to an employee for expenses.
“But that federal funding is paid as reimbursements, and the work has been slow .”
“The US chain said it received a $994 million pre-tax reimbursement, which resulted in its second quarter operating income rising to $2.6bn.”
From reimburse + -ment.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.