What does remitted mean?
Remitted is the past tense and past participle of remit, with meanings determined by context. In financial and administrative usage, it means sent or forwarded, especially money transferred to another person or place. For example, a company may say that it remitted funds to an overseas office. In legal contexts, remitted can describe a sentence, penalty, or obligation that has been reduced or forgiven, while a case may be remitted to a lower court for further action. The word also has a traditional religious sense meaning forgiven, particularly when referring to sins. Remitted is generally formal, appearing in legal documents, financial reports, institutional records, and religious writing rather than everyday conversation. Its usefulness lies in its ability to convey both transfer and reduction or forgiveness while preserving the precise legal or institutional meaning of the original verb.
To send or forward, especially money; to reduce or forgive a debt, penalty, or sentence; or to send a matter back for further consideration.
"The court remitted the case to the lower court for reconsideration."
The financial sense is especially common in formal and administrative writing. The legal sense can involve both a case returned for further action and a penalty reduced or forgiven.
That has been sent, forwarded, reduced, forgiven, or returned for further consideration; especially, of money sent to a recipient or a sentence reduced by an authority.
"The remitted funds arrived in the account the following morning."
This is a participial adjective usage, particularly established in financial and legal expressions such as remitted funds and remitted sentence.
In law, a remitted sentence is shortened rather than erased.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does remitted come from?
The word comes through Middle English from Latin remittere, formed from re- meaning back and mittere meaning to send. In its early financial sense, it referred to sending money, while the legal and religious senses developed from the idea of returning or sending back a matter and, later, forgiving an obligation or offense. Related English forms include remit, remittance, remission, and remitter.
How remitted is actually used
The word is formal and common in financial, legal, administrative, and religious contexts. In financial writing, it usually refers to money sent to another location or recipient; in legal writing, it commonly describes a reduction in a sentence, penalty, or obligation.
Easily confused with remitted
Remit is the base verb, while remitted is its past tense and past participle.