credit rating

American  

noun

1. a classification of credit risk based on investigation of a customer's or potential customer's financial resources, prior payment pattern, and personal history or degree of personal responsibility for debts incurred.

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credit rating British  

noun

1. an evaluation of the creditworthiness of an individual or business enterprise

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credit rating Cultural  

1. An evaluation of the financial trustworthiness of an individual, firm, or government.

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Etymology

Origin of credit rating

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

credit rating

Nvidia’s backing would help SB Energy raise debt at better terms because OpenAI lacks an investment-grade credit rating.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

S&P Global issued a report last week that assigned SpaceX a “BBB” credit rating, the lowest possible rating to qualify as an investment grade credit risk.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

On Thursday, the company received a “BBB” credit rating from S&P Global Ratings.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 20, 2026

The credit rating agency believes the risk has graduated from a cryptocurrency-specific problem to a broader threat affecting banks and custodians.

From Barron's ● May 22, 2026

Nina Chandler Murray, an eighty-five-year-old relative of the Poor family of Standard & Poor’s, the investment credit rating firm, is convinced that the world of the elite was more genteel in the old days.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times