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Receive vs Deliver - What's the difference?

receive | deliver |

As verbs the difference between receive and deliver

is that receive is to take, as something that is offered, given, committed, sent, paid, etc.; to accept; to be given something while deliver is to set free.

As a noun receive

is an operation in which data is received.

receive

English

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Verb

(receiv)
  • To take, as something that is offered, given, committed, sent, paid, etc.; to accept; to be given something.
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Our hearts receive your warnings.
  • *(John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • *:The idea of solidity we receive by our touch.
  • *(Bible), viii.64:
  • *:The brazen altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offerings.
  • *, chapter=19
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= No hiding place , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.}}
  • To take possession of.
  • To act as a host for guests; to give admittance to; to permit to enter, as into one's house, presence, company, etc.
  • :
  • *(Bible), (w) xxviii.2:
  • *:They kindled a fire, and received us every one.
  • *
  • *:In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.Strangers might enter the room, but they were made to feel that they were there on sufferance: they were received with distance and suspicion.
  • To suffer from (an injury).
  • :
  • To allow (a custom, tradition, etc.); to give credence or acceptance to.
  • *(Bible), (w) vii.4:
  • *:Many other things there be which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots.
  • (lb) To detect a signal from a transmitter.
  • (lb) To be in a position to take possession, or hit back the ball.
  • # To be in a position to hit back a service.
  • #(lb) To be in a position to catch a forward pass.
  • To accept into the mind; to understand.
  • *, I.57:
  • *:I cannot receive that manner, whereby we establish the continuance of our life.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (telecommunications) An operation in which data is received.
  • sends and receives

    deliver

    English

    Alternative forms

    * delivre (archaic)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To set free.
  • (label) To do with birth.
  • # To give birth.
  • # To assist in the birth of.
  • # To assist (a female) in bearing, that is, in bringing forth (a child).
  • #* Gower
  • She was delivered safe and soon.
  • (label) To free from or disburden of anything.
  • * (Henry Peacham) (1578-c.1644)
  • Tully was long ere he could be delivered of a few verses, and those poor ones.
  • To bring or transport something to its destination.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=Mr. Cooke had had a sloop?yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered .}}
  • To hand over or surrender (someone or something) to another.
  • * Bible, (w) xl. 13
  • Thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • The constables have delivered her over.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • The exalted mind / All sense of woe delivers to the wind.
  • To express in words, declare, or utter.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 27, author=Nathan Rabin, work=The Onion AV Club
  • , title= TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992) , passage=It’s a lovely sequence cut too short because the show seems afraid to give itself over to romance and whimsy and wistfulness when it has wedgie jokes to deliver .}}
  • To give forth in action or exercise; to discharge.
  • * Sir (Philip Sidney) (1554-1586)
  • shaking his head and delivering some show of tears
  • * Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • An uninstructed bowler thinks to attain the jack by delivering his bowl straight forward.
  • To discover; to show.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I'll deliver myself your loyal servant.
  • (label) To admit; to allow to pass.
  • (Francis Bacon)

    Synonyms

    * (to set free) * (to express)

    Derived terms

    * delivery * deliverable * deliver the goods

    Anagrams

    *