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Send vs Dispatch vs Forward vs Transmit vs Remit vs Route vs Ship

Send, dispatchforwardtransmitremitrouteship are comparable when they mean to cause to go or to be taken from one place or person or condition to another.

Send, the most general term, carries a wide range of implications and connotations and is capable of replacing any of the remaining terms especially when joined with a suitable modifying adverb. Basically it implies the action of an agent or sometimes an agency or instrumentality that initiates passage of one to another typically by ordering or directing or by using force or by employing some available facility or inherent capacity or power.

Often the term carries special connotations characteristic of particular idioms; thus, when one sends a child to college, one makes it possible for him to go by providing funds; when a teacher sends her pupils back to their books after recess she leads them to shift their focus from one activity (play) to another (study); when a story sends its hearers into gales of laughter it impels attention and alters mood; when something (as music or a personality) sends one, it induces an intense emotional response.

Dispatch tends to suggest speed in sending and to heighten notions of specific destination or cause, though the use of a speedy means is as likely to be stated as implied.

Forward (see also ADVANCE ) implies a sending on or forward especially of something that has been delayed or stopped before reaching the person to whom it is to be delivered or, in commercial use, of something that has been asked for or ordered.

Transmit (see also CARRY ) fundamentally implies a sending or passing from one place, person, or point to another; it often emphasizes the means rather than the fact of sending.

Remit (see also EXCUSE ) especially in reference to money can mean merely to send, but often implies a sending in response to a demand, In more general and in legal use the term is likely to imply a sending or referring back (as for further action or consideration).

Route implies a sending along of something according to a predetermined route, and often suggests the reaching in proper succession of one person or place after another.

Ship applies to the sending especially of heavy goods or articles specifically by ship or more generally by any normal commercial transportation channel.