arrears

[uh-reerz]

plural noun

the state of being behind or late, especially in the fulfillment of a duty, promise, obligation, or the like: Many homeowners have fallen into arrears.
Sometimes arrear. something overdue in payment; a debt that remains unpaid: Those countries that have paid their arrears may be granted additional loans.

Idioms

in arrears, behind or late, especially in payment: She was three months in arrears on her mortgage and credit card payments.Also Chiefly Law, in arrear.

Origin of arrears

1300–50; noun use of arrear (adv., now obsolete), Middle English arere behind < Middle French ≪ Latin ad retrō. See ad-, retro-

Related formsar·rear·age, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for arrear

liability, obligation, deficit, deficiency, debit, claim

Examples from the Web for arrear

Historical Examples of arrear

Say, Plornish, though six weeks in arrear to my proprietor, declines.
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens
The pay of the troops was long in arrear, and they were all mutinous and discontented.
The Reign of Mary Tudor
W. Llewelyn Williams.
The pay of the soldiers got more and more hopelessly into arrear.
Theodoric the Goth
Thomas Hodgkin
He had found the treasury empty and the pay of the navy in arrear.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Discontent was already prevalent, for the pay of the soldiers was in arrear.
Ireland under the Tudors, Volume I (of II)
Richard Bagwell

British Dictionary definitions for arrear

arrears

noun

Also called: arrearage (əˈrɪərɪdʒ) (sometimes singular) something outstanding or owed
in arrears or in arrear late in paying a debt or meeting an obligation

Word Origin for arrears

C18: from obsolete arrear (adv) behindhand, from Old French arere, from Medieval Latin adretrō, from Latin ad to + retrō backwards

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for arrear

c.1300, "at a disadvantage;" mid-14c., "in times past;" late 14c., "in or to the rear;" see arrears. Meaning "behind in duties or payments" is from 1620s.

arrears

mid-14c., "in times past," from Old French ariere "behind, backward," from Vulgar Latin *ad retro, from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + retro "behind" (see retro-). Meaning "balance due" dates from early 15c.; phrase in arrears first recorded 1610s, but in arrearages is from late 14c.

Idioms and Phrases with arrear

arrears

see in arrears.