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Receipt? Receiving?

I'm trying to come up with a name for "the acceptance of a delivery." I'd like to be able to say

Ten deliveries were made but there are only five [fill_in_the_blank_here] on record.

Any suggestions?

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    I think it's clearest to just leave it out. What's wrong with Ten deliveries were made but there are only five on record.
    – tenfour
    Mar 28, 2011 at 16:43
  • 1. Receiving is a gerund not a noun. 2. The question is open-ended and subjective.
    – Kris
    May 2, 2013 at 10:28
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    @Kris That is incorrect, in that gerunds are indeed numbered amongst the nouns.
    – tchrist ♦
    May 2, 2013 at 13:28
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    To add to tenfour's suggestion . . . "Ten deliveries were made but only five are documented."
    – Kristina Lopez
    May 2, 2013 at 17:48
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    @Kris, of course not. It's just part of a suggestion to phrase the example in a clearer way which is why it's a comment and not an answer. :-)
    – Kristina Lopez
    May 3, 2013 at 12:38

4 Answers 4

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Receipt works. As in, "receipt of the items has been acknowledged."

Receipt \Re*ceipt"\ (r[-e]*s[=e]t"), n. [OE. receite, OF. recete, recepte, F. recette, fr. L. recipere, receptum, to receive. See {Receive}.] 1. The act of receiving; reception. "At the receipt of your letter." --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Likely variations for your case would include

"Ten deliveries were made but there are only five received items on record."

"Ten deliveries were made but the records show only five items were received."

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  • One gotcha with receipt is that it typical refers to an actual slip of paper that was used as a receipt. Other than that, it works. +1
    – MrHen
    Mar 28, 2011 at 17:33
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    I use this all the time. For instance: "Note: Customer will pay upon receipt of product."
    – Adam
    Mar 29, 2011 at 19:01
  • The noun form of receive is receipt.
    – user43573
    May 2, 2013 at 9:05
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I think you said it already: "deliveries".

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The word you are looking for is Received

as in

Ten deliveries were made but according to our records only five were received

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Receptions could carry this meaning here,

noun 1 the action or process of receiving something sent, given , or inflicted

~NOAD

and deliveries are often received at a reception desk, or simply at Receptions.

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  • This doesn't work. You can talk about reception of a signal but not an item. In this context, "reception" sounds like something a non-native speaker would say because they took "receive" and found a similar sounding noun. As you say, the reception is the place where things are received; it's not used for the acts of receiving that occur there.
    – David Richerby
    Sep 8, 2014 at 8:33