remainder

Pluralremainders

Formsremainders, remaindering, remaindered

1. 1
   noun

   The part or parts that are left after some has been removed or has already happened.

   Once the storm passed, the crew spent the remainder of the day clearing debris.

   Most guests left early, but the remainder stayed until well past midnight.

   Similarrest, balance, remnant

   Note

   An old verb turned into a noun: Middle English remaindre came from Anglo-Norman, where the infinitive itself was used as a noun, roughly "the remaining." It usually comes with the and often with of, as in the remainder of the war or the remainder of their journeys. Once the whole is clear it can stand alone: my son ate part of the cake and I ate the remainder.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   The amount left over after dividing one whole number by another as many whole times as possible.

   Dividing 23 by 4 gives a quotient of 5 and a remainder of 3.

   The algorithm checks whether the remainder equals zero to test for divisibility.

   Note

   The leftover in division obeys a strict rule: it is never negative and is always smaller than the divisor, so dividing by 3 can only leave 0, 1 or 2. When it is zero, the division comes out even. Two phrasings are standard. The first is 17 leaves a remainder of 2 when divided by 3. The second is the clipped 11 divided by 2 is 5 remainder 1, where the word takes no article.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The number left after one quantity is subtracted from another.

   Subtracting the smaller figure from the larger leaves a remainder of forty.

   The bookkeeper recorded the remainder after deducting the costs from the total.

   Similardifference, balance

   Note

   Subtraction can leave a remainder too, and the phrasing matches the division sense: 10 minus 4 leaves a remainder of 6. In modern arithmetic teaching, the result of a subtraction is more often called the difference, and remainder is kept mainly for division. Here, then, remainder reads as the everyday word rather than the textbook one.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   Surplus stock items left unsold and offered at a reduced price.

   The shop set out a table of remainders after the holiday season ended.

   He bought the hardcover as a remainder for a fraction of its original price.

   Note

   Retail and publishing count leftovers by the piece. A single unsold item is a remainder, as in a shirt bought cheaply because it was a remainder, and the leftover stock as a whole is remainders. The word is most at home in bookselling, where copies that have stopped selling are cleared at a fraction of their price. It also has a matching verb, to mark stock down.

5. 5
   adjective

   Still present and left after the rest has gone or been used.

   The committee allocated the remainder seats to latecomers.

   Volunteers spread the remainder gravel along the edge of the new path.

   Similarremaining, leftover, surplus, spare, residual

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To mark or declare unsold items as available at a reduced price.

   The publisher chose to remainder several thousand unsold copies.

   After the season ended, the store remaindered its surplus inventory.

   Similardiscount

   Note

   A transitive verb whose object is the stock and whose subject is the seller, usually a shop or publisher: the bookstore remaindered the unsold copies. Its past tense and past participle are both remaindered, and the participle also works as an adjective for the discounted goods themselves, as in remaindered copies. The present participle is remaindering.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   A future interest in an estate that takes effect only after a prior estate created by the same document has ended.

   The deed granted a life estate to the widow and a remainder to her children.

   A vested remainder gives the holder a certain future right to the property.

   Note

   Property law's word for an interest that waits its turn. A deed gives one person a life estate and the remainder to another, who takes possession when the first estate ends naturally. A remainder differs from a reversion in who holds it: a remainder goes to someone other than the grantor, while a reversion is what the grantor keeps. A vested remainder is one already certain to arrive.

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