Return vs. Refund: What's the Difference?

To go or come back, as to an earlier condition or place

To give back, especially money; return or repay

To revert in speech, thought, or practice

To make repayment.

To revert to a former owner.

A repayment of funds.

To answer or respond

An amount repaid.

To send, put, or carry back

(transitive) To return (money) to (someone); to reimburse.

To give or send back in reciprocation

To supply (someone) again with funds.

To give back to the owner

To pour back (something).

To reflect or send back

An amount of money returned.

To produce or yield (profit or interest) as a payment for labor, investment, or expenditure.

To fund again or anew; to replace (a fund or loan) by a new fund; as, to refund a railroad loan.

To submit (an official report, for example) to a judge or other person in authority.

To pour back.

To render or deliver (a writ or verdict, for example) to the proper officer or court of law.

To give back; to repay; to restore.

To elect or reelect, as to a legislative body.

To supply again with funds; to reimburse.

(Games) To respond to (a partner's lead) by leading the same suit in cards.

Money returned to a payer

(Architecture) To turn away from or place at an angle to the previous line of direction.

The act of returning money received previously

(Sports) To hit or send back (a tennis ball, for example) to one's opponent.

Pay back;

(Football) To run with (the ball) after a kickoff, punt, interception, or fumble.

The act or condition of going, coming, bringing, or sending back

The act of bringing or sending something back to a previous place, condition, or owner

Something brought or sent back.

Returns Merchandise returned, as to a retailer by a consumer or to a wholesaler by a retailer.

Something that goes or comes back.

A recurrence, as of a periodic occasion or event

Something exchanged for that received; repayment.

A reply; a response.

The profit made on an exchange of goods.

Often returns A profit or yield, as from labor or investments.

Output or yield per unit rather than cost per unit, as in the manufacturing of a particular product.

A report, list, or set of statistics, especially one that is formal or official.

Often returns A report on the vote in an election.

Chiefly British An election.

(Games) A lead in certain card games that responds to the lead of one's partner.

The act of hitting or sending the ball back to one's opponent.

The ball thus sent back.

The act of running back the ball after a kickoff, punt, interception, or fumble.

The yardage so gained.

The extension of a molding, projection, or other part at an angle (usually 90°) to the main part.

A part of a building set at an angle to the façade.

A turn, bend, or similar reversal of direction, as in a stream or road.

A pipe or conduit for carrying something, especially water, back to its starting point.

The key or mechanism on a machine, such as a typewriter, that positions the carriage or printing element at the beginning of a new line.

A key on a computer keyboard or keypad used to begin a new line or paragraph in a text editor.

Chiefly British A roundtrip ticket.

The bringing or sending back of a writ, subpoena, or other document, generally with a short written report on it, by a sheriff or other officer to the court from which it was issued.

A certified report by an assessor, election officer, collector, or other official.

A formal tax statement on the required official form indicating taxable income, allowed deductions, exemptions, and the computed tax that is due. Also called income tax return, tax return.

Of, relating to, or bringing about a going or coming back to a place or situation

Given, sent, or done in reciprocation or exchange

Performed, presented, or taking place again

Returning or affording return or recirculation

Reversing or changing direction.

Having or formed by a reversal or change in direction; returning on itself, as a bend in a road or stream.

(intransitive) To come or go back (to a place or person).

(intransitive) To go back in thought, narration, or argument.

(intransitive) To recur; to come again.

To turn back, retreat.

To turn (something) round.

(transitive) To place or put back something where it had been.

(transitive) To give something back to its original holder or owner.

(transitive) To take back something to a vendor for a complete or partial refund.

To give in requital or recompense; to requite.

(tennis) To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.

(card games) To play a card as a result of another player's lead.

(cricket) To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.

(transitive) To say in reply; to respond.

To relinquish control to the calling procedure.

To pass (data) back to the calling procedure.

To retort; to throw back.

(transitive) To report, or bring back and make known.

To elect according to the official report of the election officers.

The act of returning.

A return ticket.

An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect, or the act of returning it.

An answer.

An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, etc.; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.

Gain or loss from an investment.

A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts; a tax return.

(computing) A carriage return character.

(computing) The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure.

(computing) A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure.

A return pipe, returning fluid to a boiler or other central plant (compare with flow pipe, which carries liquid away from a central plant).

A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower.

(American football) The act of catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.

(cricket) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.

(architecture) The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, such as a moulding; applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer.

To turn back; to go or come again to the same place or condition.

To come back, or begin again, after an interval, regular or irregular; to appear again.

To speak in answer; to reply; to respond.

To revert; to pass back into possession.

To go back in thought, narration, or argument.

To bring, carry, send, or turn, back; as, to return a borrowed book, or a hired horse.

To repay; as, to return borrowed money.

To give in requital or recompense; to requite.

To give back in reply; as, to return an answer; to return thanks.

To retort; to throw back; as, to return the lie.

To report, or bring back and make known.

To render, as an account, usually an official account, to a superior; to report officially by a list or statement; as, to return a list of stores, of killed or wounded; to return the result of an election.

Hence, to elect according to the official report of the election officers.

To bring or send back to a tribunal, or to an office, with a certificate of what has been done; as, to return a writ.

To convey into official custody, or to a general depository.

To bat (the ball) back over the net.

To lead in response to the lead of one's partner; as, to return a trump; to return a diamond for a club.

The act of returning (intransitive), or coming back to the same place or condition; as, the return of one long absent; the return of health; the return of the seasons, or of an anniversary.

The act of returning (transitive), or sending back to the same place or condition; restitution; repayment; requital; retribution; as, the return of anything borrowed, as a book or money; a good return in tennis.

That which is returned.

An answer; as, a return to one's question.

The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, as a molding or mold; - applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer; thus, a facade of sixty feet east and west has a return of twenty feet north and south.

The rendering back or delivery of writ, precept, or execution, to the proper officer or court.

An official account, report, or statement, rendered to the commander or other superior officer; as, the return of men fit for duty; the return of the number of the sick; the return of provisions, etc.

The turnings and windings of a trench or mine.

Document giving the tax collector information about the taxpayer's tax liability;

A coming to or returning home;

The occurrence of a change in direction back in the opposite direction

Getting something back again;

The act of returning to a prior location;

The income arising from land or other property;

Happening again (especially at regular intervals);

A quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one);

The key on electric typewriters or computer keyboards that causes a carriage return and a line feed

A reciprocal group action;

A tennis stroke that returns the ball to the other player;

(American football) the act of running back the ball after a kickoff or punt or interception or fumble

The act of someone appearing again;

Come back to place where one has been before, or return to a previous activity

Give back;

Go back to a previous state;

Go back to something earlier;

Bring back to the point of departure

Return in kind;

Make a return;

Answer back

Be restored;

Pay back;

Pass down;

Elect again

Be inherited by;

Return to a previous position; in mathematics;

Give or supply;

Submit (a report, etc.) to someone in authority;