refund

Use the word "refund" when you get money back for something you purchased or when you pay too much money for anything.

When this word is used as a noun, the accent is on the first syllable:

re fund

• The homeowners received a refund from the government because they paid too much money in taxes last year.
• This store will give you a full refund if you buy something here and don’t like it.
• We asked the hotel for a refund because our room was dirty and had bugs in it.
• When are we getting our refund?
• You should get a refund in the mail in about two weeks.

When this word is used as a verb, the accent is on the second syllalble:

re fund

• The company will refund your money if you aren’t happy with your purchase.
• The store refunded our money because the phone we purchased didn’t work.
• The manager said he wouldn’t refund my money because too much time has passed since I bought this guitar.
• They need to see a photo ID in order to refund the money.

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This page was first published on February 28, 2012.
It was updated on October 4, 2017.