Other forms: received, receiving, receives
To receive something is to have it arrive with you — someone sends it or gives it, and you are the one at the other end. You receive a letter, receive a parcel, receive a text at two in the morning.
Receive is the formal half of get: a bank writes we have received your payment, and a friend says I got it. It also means to welcome — a host receives guests, an ambassador is received at the palace. A radio or a phone receives a signal, which is why the box is called a receiver. How something is received is how people react to it: the film was warmly received, the plan was received in silence. The spelling is the famous one — i before e except after c, so receive, receipt, ceiling.
1verbreceiveTo be given or sent something, and to take it in.~92%
“We received your application on the fifth of May.”
synonyms: get, obtain
2verbwelcomeTo welcome or greet somebody, especially formally.~2%
“The mayor received the visitors at the town hall.”
3verbpickTo pick up a broadcast or a signal.~4%
“The old radio still receives two local stations.”
4verbreactTo react to something in a particular way, as an audience or a public.~2%
“Her second novel was received far better than her first.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 24 sentences found in the wild and placed 24 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Also accepted in games: get
Latin recipiō is re-, back, plus capiō, to take: to take back, to accept. Old French turned it into recevoir and Middle English into receyven. The same capiō sits inside conceive, deceive and perceive, which is why the whole family shares that awkward -ceive spelling.
Proto-Indo-European
*keh₂p-
Latin
recipiō — take back, accept, etc.
Old French
recevoir
Middle English
receyven
English, today
receive
Built from
From Middle English receyven, from Old French recevoir, from Latin recipiō (“take back, accept, etc.”), from re- (“back”) + capiō (“to take”); see capacious. Compare conceive, deceive, perceive. Displaced native Middle English - terms in fon/fangen (e.g. afon, anfon, afangen, underfangen, etc. "to receive" from Old English fon), native Middle English thiggen (“to receive”) (from Old English þiċġan), and non-native Middle English aquilen, enquilen (“to receive”) (from Old French aquillir, encueillir).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA