debt
Americannoun
-
debts
plural
-
something that is owed or that one is bound to pay to or perform for another.
a debt of $50.
- Synonyms:
- due, duty, obligation
-
a liability or obligation to pay or render something.
My debt to her for advice is not to be discharged easily.
-
the condition of being under such an obligation.
His gambling losses put him deeply in debt.
-
Theology. an offense requiring reparation; a sin; a trespass.
noun
-
something that is owed, such as money, goods, or services
-
a debt that has little or no prospect of being paid
-
an obligation to pay or perform something; liability
-
the state of owing something, esp money, or of being under an obligation (esp in the phrases in debt, in ( someone's ) debt )
-
a temporary failure to maintain the necessary supply of something
sleep debt
oxygen debt
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of debt
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English dette, from Old French, from Latin dēbita (neuter plural, taken in Vulgar Latin as feminine singular), noun use of dēbitus “owed,” past participle of dēbēre “to owe,” contraction of dēhabēre (unrecorded), from dē- de- + habēre “to have”
Explanation
The noun debt refers to an obligation to pay for or do something. If you get arrested for stealing, serving time in jail is the way to repay your debt to society. Debt comes from the Latin word debitum, which means "thing owed." Often, a debt is money that you must repay someone. Debt can also mean the state of owing something — if you borrow twenty dollars from your brother, you are in debt to him until you pay him back. If someone says, "I owe you a debt of gratitude," it means you have done something great and that person intends to do something to "repay" your kindness.
Vocabulary lists containing debt
Material World: Shopping Lingo
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The Great Depression and The New Deal
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Economics
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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:
Private-credit firms raise money from investors and lend it out, mostly to businesses that fall below investment-grade debt, but have increasingly been wading into consumer debts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Private credit also buys outstanding consumer debt from banks that don’t want to keep it on their books.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
In an exclusive interview, Kristalina Georgieva said global economic shocks had been "pushing debt levels up like a staircase not to heaven" but that governments had taken "no action to contain that service cost".
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Bacharach came up with a plan to tackle the debt, which has relieved a lot of my anxiety:
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Cardan is dressed in a suit of Dain’s clothes, stolen from the palace wardrobes and altered by a clever-fingered brownie that owed the Roach a gambling debt.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Private-credit firms raise money from investors and lend it out, mostly to businesses that fall below investment-grade debt, but have increasingly been wading into consumer debts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
If the nonprofit LA28 spends more than it takes in, Los Angeles will be responsible for repaying the first $270 million in debts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
But in 1995, chairman Bill Archer sold Brighton's Goldstone Ground, their home since 1902, because of escalating debts that there was no obvious way of paying.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
That will be essential for Japan to spur faster economic growth, stabilize the yen or repay its debts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
“The permanent erasure of my family’s debts to you so that I’m free to leave the Night Zoo forever,” said Koffi immediately.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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.
