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:
The GLA said that, as is standard practice in insolvency law, it had informed the administrators of the government's interest as a potential creditor.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 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
None of this guarantees that a creditor will actually succeed in reaching the trust.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026
So will the new money for many of China’s debtors in the developing world, where it’s the largest creditor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 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
According to the filing, Signorello Estate believes it owes its creditors between $10 million and $50 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
The former businessman negotiated a restructuring of the debt and rebuilt relations with foreign creditors.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
An executor has a fiduciary responsibility to transparently and honestly deal with all aspects of the deceased’s estate, including paying creditors and taxes and distributing assets to heirs.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
A federal judge ruled that creditors of SVB Financial aren’t entitled to the claim against the regulator, wiping out a bet by distressed-debt investors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
His wife calculated that he must be losing huge sums of money, because at the end of the month there was invariably a long line of creditors at their door.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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.
