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:
She recalls traveling on a tight budget and staying in a tiny Holiday Inn Express room in Hong Kong—where one creditor was based—that was so cramped she struggled to open her suitcase.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
The leverage the city has on the pending sale includes its status as a creditor seeking to recoup public funds spent to protect the complex with fencing and deploy police security to prevent vandalism.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 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
The salesman had told Hale that because he wasn’t Roan’s relative, he could become his beneficiary only if he were his creditor.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
The distress ratio of software loans is over 25% and one-tenth of all credit loans are now pay-in-kind — whereby issuers pay creditors with new loans instead of interest.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
"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
Because Japanese institutions are the world’s largest cross-border creditors, rising yields at home weaken the case for owning foreign debt and give capital parked in U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
So if you’re a graduate who’s struggling to make your monthly payments on a large student-loan balance, then bankruptcy may not offer as clear a path to financial redemption as directly negotiating with your creditors.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026
The pressure from creditors and families was growing too great.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
