debtor
Americannoun
-
debtors
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of debtor
1250–1300; Middle English detto ( u ) r < Anglo-French dett ( o ) ur, de ( b ) tour, Old French det ( t ) or < Latin dēbitōr-, stem of dēbitor, equivalent to dēbi-, variant stem of dēbēre ( see debt) + -tor -tor
Explanation
A debtor is someone who owes money. If you borrow from a bank to buy a car, you are a debtor. Most of us are debtors at some point in our lives. We borrow money to buy houses or cars, to attend college, or to tide us over when we're between jobs. Businesses and large institutions can also be debtors, and even countries are often debtors. If a developing country borrows money from a wealthier one, the borrower is a debtor. The opposite of a debtor is a creditor.
Vocabulary lists containing debtor
Vocabulary from the Magna Carta on its 800th Anniversary
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Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - Introductory
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Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Older debtors are the fastest-growing demographic of debtors,” said Eleni Schirmer, an organizer with the Debt Collective debtor activist organization, who is writing a book on the rise of aging borrowers.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
A promise to pay money is only as good as the fidelity of the debtor and the integrity of the currency in which the creditor is paid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Court documents named Trump as a "debtor" and reveal that, due to interest, the amount sought by two applications brought by Orbis totals £789,812.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Under Assembly Bill 501, the secretary of state’s office would be required to notify individuals within 21 days if they are named as a debtor in a lien filing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2026
You are the debtor who is always paid.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
“The debtors were ultimately unable to bring the key parties to a fully consensual arrangement that would have supported a financially viable LIV 2.0 league,” Williams said during the hearing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
“Older debtors are hopeful this passes and it’s a tiny step towards relieving their burden.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the authors write, tried to ensure that only “honest but unfortunate” debtors benefited from bankruptcy’s by directing “professional bankrupts . . . to restitution or jail.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
High inflation allows debtors to repay loans with watered-down dollars.
From Barron's ● May 30, 2026
War prisoners, criminals, debtors, and orphans could be forced into labor.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
