debit
Americannoun
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the recording or an entry of debt in an account.
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Bookkeeping.
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that which is entered in an account as a debt; a recorded item of debt.
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any entry or the total shown on the debit side.
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the left-hand side of an account on which such entries are made (opposed to credit).
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an undesirable or disadvantageous feature.
verb (used with object)
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to charge with a debt.
The store debited her account for the purchase.
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to charge as a debt.
The store debited the purchase to her account.
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Bookkeeping. to enter upon the debit side of an account.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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debitsimple
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debitssimple
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have debitedperfect
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has debitedperfect
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am debitingprogressive
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are debitingprogressive
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is debitingprogressive
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have been debitingperfect progressive
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has been debitingperfect progressive
Past
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debitedsimple
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had debitedperfect
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was debitingprogressive
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were debitingprogressive
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had been debitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of debit
1400–50; late Middle English < Old French < Latin dēbitum something owed; see debt
Explanation
A debit is a payment made or charged, or the notation of the amount charged. Trying to track down the mysterious $2 debit to your bank account is almost never fruitful, but you’re bound to do it anyway. From the Latin debere, meaning “to owe,” and just one i away from its more blunt cousin debt, a debit seems like a little word. But add an s to the end, and those charges really add up. You can use the word debit as a verb — “to debit your account,” or a noun — “the debit on your account,” but either way, a debit means you have less money than you had before!
Vocabulary lists containing debit
"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 17
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de-
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Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 1-3
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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:
It highlighted growth in Venmo and Braintree, as well as PayPal’s debit card and buy now, pay later businesses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
In less than six years since its creation, PIX now handles more transactions in Latin America’s biggest economy than credit and debit cards combined.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Prepayment meter users pay £129 more a year than those on competitive fixed direct debit tariffs, while drivers living in deprived postcodes faced an average of £153 extra on their motor insurance.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Parents can use their debit cards, or electronic payments with an ACH transfer from their bank account, the official said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
Nali put her debit card on top of it and said to Nathan, “I’m going to wash up. After that, we’ll call Devin and let him know.”
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
It may also involve traditional accounting activities, such as tracking payments in a general ledger, involving debits and credits and double-entry accounting, as well as accounts payable activities of making payments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
The ledger of Newman’s youth had mostly debits for the future painter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
But in a statement, Corbyn said the emails were "unauthorised" and should be ignored, while any direct debits set up should be "immediately cancelled".
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2025
She wonders why her premium account drew no call from her relationship manager and why the bank failed to flag such massive debits.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2025
And then the account book proper, with debits and credits on facing pages.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
In order to operate this way, fintech companies often need a middleman between the fintech company and the bank that can do the bookkeeping necessary to make sure customer accounts are credited and debited correctly.
From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2024
At one bank, more than 60,000 accounts were debited more than $330 million the following morning, with about 7,300 account balances reduced by more than $10,000.
From Reuters ● Jun. 27, 2023
Payments that are automatically debited are expected to resume on the first due date after payments are again required.
From New York Times ● Jul. 18, 2021
In fact, according to a case brought by the Dubai Islamic Bank against Citibank, more than $151m "was debited by Citibank from DIB's correspondent account without proper authorisation".
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2018
Amongst the large accounts, which were unlikely to be drawn, he debited the cash which he employed as a private discounter of bills.
From The History of Tasmania, Volume I by West, John
But the mechanism by which the government sells its debt, debiting bank reserves held at the Fed in exchange for the new bills and bonds, could still test the resilience of some smaller institutions.
From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2023
Last month, the bureau punished Enova, which runs online lender CashNetUSA, for failing to honor promised loan extensions and for debiting customers’ bank accounts without authorization.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 6, 2019
This ability “endeared him to the Vatican,” because he could move church funds around by debiting an account in one branch and crediting one in another, with coins never changing hands.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 6, 2015
“All debt management is, is debiting and crediting different accounts,” Mr. Mosler said, recalling seeing numbers appear and disappear from his computer at Bankers Trust in New York in the 1970s.
From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2013
It’s a draft for one hundred pounds on the Bank of Montreal, and it’s a secret; but I’m not debiting the estate with it.
From Lorimer of the Northwest by Dewey, Alfred James
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.
