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Receive vs Retrieve - What's the difference?

receive | retrieve |

In sports terms the difference between receive and retrieve

is that receive is to be in a position to take possession, or hit back the ball while retrieve is the return of a difficult ball.

As verbs the difference between receive and retrieve

is that receive is to take, as something that is offered, given, committed, sent, paid, etc.; to accept; to be given something while retrieve is to regain or get back something.

As nouns the difference between receive and retrieve

is that receive is an operation in which data is received while retrieve is a retrieval.

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

    retrieve

    English

    Verb

    (retriev)
  • To regain or get back something.
  • to retrieve''' one's character or independence; to '''retrieve a thrown ball
  • * Dryden
  • With late repentance now they would retrieve / The bodies they forsook, and wish to live.
  • To rescue (a) creature(s)
  • To salvage something
  • To remedy or rectify something.
  • To remember or recall something.
  • To fetch or carry back something.
  • * Berkeley
  • to retrieve them from their cold, trivial conceits
  • To fetch and bring in game.
  • The cook doesn't care what's shot, only what's actually retrieved .
  • To fetch and bring in game systematically.
  • Dog breeds called 'retrievers' were selected for retrieving .
  • To fetch or carry back systematically, notably as a game.
  • Most dogs love retrieving , regardless of what object is thrown.
  • (sports) To make a difficult but successful return of the ball.
  • (obsolete) To remedy the evil consequence of, to repair (a loss or damage).
  • * Prior
  • Accept my sorrow, and retrieve my fall.
  • * Burke
  • There is much to be done and much to be retrieved .

    Derived terms

    * retriever

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A retrieval
  • (sports) The return of a difficult ball
  • (obsolete) A seeking again; a discovery.
  • (Ben Jonson)
  • (obsolete) The recovery of game once sprung.
  • (Nares)