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Disburse vs Refund - What's the difference?

disburse | refund |

As verbs the difference between disburse and refund

is that disburse is (finance) to pay out, expend; usually from a public fund or treasury while refund is to return (money) to (someone); to reimburse.

As a noun refund is

an amount of money returned.

disburse

English

Verb

(disburs)
  • (finance) To pay out, expend; usually from a public fund or treasury.

    • Usage notes

    * Do not confuse with the scattering word disperse, despite similarity.

    Synonyms

    (to pay out) shell out (informal), cough up (informal), fork out (informal), fork over (informal)

    Derived terms

    * disbursement

    refund

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To return (money) to (someone); to reimburse.
    • A governor, that had pillaged the people, was sentenced to refund what he had wrongfully taken. — L'Estrange.
    If you find this computer for sale anywhere at a lower price, we'll refund you the difference.
  • (obsolete) To supply again with funds.
    • to refund a railroad loan
  • (obsolete, rare) To pour back.
    • Were the humours of the eye tinctured with any colour, they would refund that colour upon the object. — Ray.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An amount of money returned.
    • If the camera is faulty, you can return it to the store where you bought it for a refund.

    Anagrams

    * English heteronyms