noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of creditor
1400–50; late Middle English creditour < Latin crēditor, equivalent to crēdi- variant stem of crēdere to believe, entrust ( see credit) + -tor -tor
Explanation
If Joe loans you two dollars so you can buy a cup of coffee, Joe is your creditor — you owe him two dollars and a big thank you! If you have a credit card, the bank that issues it to you is your creditor. What they give you is not just a piece of plastic: rather it is a line of credit or a certain amount of money that they have agreed to loan you at fixed terms. Make sure you pay it off every month or you'll become a debtor!
Vocabulary lists containing creditor
Believe It or Not: Cred
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Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - Introductory
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cred
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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:
In person, the creditor said it broadly accepted her proposal for a debt restructuring, a breakthrough that gave Lynas breathing room.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
The U.S. government is still investigating the allegations while seeking to be repaid through First Brands’ bankruptcy as a creditor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
The strength of this creditor protection depends on how the trust is drafted.
From MarketWatch ● May 23, 2026
As Glutality’s sole secured creditor, Insulin Care has priority on any cash recovered during the bankruptcy process.
From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026
I didn’t want Rufus having to face some creditor that I had angered with my twentieth-century brevity—which could come across as nineteenth-century abruptness, even discourtesy.
From "Kindred" by Octavia Butler
"We recognise the significant impact this will have on our employees, performers, venues, suppliers and other creditors, and we are sincerely sorry to all those affected," they said.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
This coheres with Keynes’s conception of much contemporary economic life as a struggle between creditors and debtors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
In fact, estates with little or no money can sometimes be the most difficult to administer because debts, creditors and property issues still have to be addressed.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Sources close to the new deal said the creditors had sweetened it with hundreds of millions in new money on top of the existing offer.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
If the company borrowed millions of francs and then went bust, Armand Peugeot did not owe its creditors a single franc.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
