Word.ws English Dictionary

received

Syllables: re·ceived/ɹɪˈsiːvd/

received is the simple past and past participle of receive.

Meaning of receive

Verb

receive (third-person singular simple present receives, present participle receiving, simple past and past participle received)

  1. (transitive) To be given, sent, or paid something.
    • He received many presents for his birthday.
  2. (dated, transitive) To take, as something that is offered; to accept.
    • He had the offer of employment, but he would not receive it.
  3. To take goods knowing them to be stolen.
  4. (transitive) To act as a host for guests; to give admittance to; to permit to enter, as into one's house, presence, company, etc.
    • to receive a lodger, visitor, ambassador, messenger, etc.
    Synonyms:
    have
  5. (transitive) To incur (an injury).
    • I received a bloody nose from the collision.
  6. To allow (a custom, tradition, etc.); to give credence or acceptance to.
    • For the Phariſes and all the Jewes, except they waſh their hands oft, eate not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they waſh, they eate not. And many other things there be, which they have receiued to hold, as the waſhing of cups and pots, braſen...1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 7:3–4, column 2

See all 11 meanings of receive

Adjective

received (not comparable)

  1. Generally accepted as correct or true.
    • And therefore as though there were any feriation in nature or justitiums imaginable in professions, whose subject is natural, and under no intermissive, but constant way of mutation, this season is commonly termed the physician's vacation, and stands so received by most men.1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
    • The old saying goes that we should not judge a man until we have walked a mile in his shoes. As with so much received wisdom – from judging books by their covers to the relative exchange rate for birds in hands and bushes – this is of course rubbish.2012 October 30, Robin Wilkinson, Western Mail

Forms of received

alternative form (archaic)receiv'd

Words formed from received

Phrases with received

Words that rhyme with received

Questions about received

What does received mean?
Received means generally accepted as correct or true.
What is received the simple past and past participle of?
Received is the simple past and past participle of receive.
What part of speech is received?
Received is an adjective.
How do you pronounce received?
Received is pronounced /ɹɪˈsiːvd/.

Words near received in the dictionary

  1. receival
  2. receivals
  3. receive
  4. receiveable
  5. receiveables
  6. received
  7. Received Pronunciation
  8. Received Standard
  9. received wisdom
  10. receivedness
  11. receivedst

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: received (page history and authors); receive (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-received.ogg.

Cite this entry: “received.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/received. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.