Receiving

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈsiːvɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The act of accepting or taking possession of something given or sent ; the process of capturing or acquiring signals, data, or transmissions, often by a device
2. Receiving involves accepting or collecting something offered or delivered to a person or place ; it also means to detect and process signals or information from a source
3. The action of obtaining or being given an item or message ; the technical function of capturing transmissions or input, especially in communication systems

Etymology: The verb "receive" comes from Latin "recipere," meaning "take back" or "accept," built from "re-" ("back") and "capere" ("to take"). The same root gives us "capacious," so a receptacle and a capacious container share a distant ancestor with the act of receiving. Old French turned it into "receivre," and English took it up in Middle English as "receyven." English already had its own words for this idea. Old English had "fōn" ("to seize, take hold of"), and Middle English speakers used compounds built on it, such as "afon" and "underfangen," along with "thiggen," which came from Old English "þiċġan." The Latin-derived form eventually pushed most of these out of use, though a few traces of the older words survive in the history of the language. The modern sense of detecting signals came much later, once radio and electronics made it natural to speak of a device that receives a transmission. That extension keeps the original idea intact: the thing being received is taken in from outside.

Synonyms: accepting, getting, acquiring

Antonyms: giving, offering, sending