owe
Americanverb (used with object)
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owes,
present (3rd person singular)
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owed,
past participle, past
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owing
present participle
-
to be under obligation to pay or repay.
to owe money to the bank; to owe the bank interest on a mortgage.
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to be in debt to.
He says he doesn't owe anybody.
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to be indebted (to) as the cause or source of.
to owe one's fame to good fortune.
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to have or bear (a feeling or attitude) toward someone or something.
to owe gratitude to one's rescuers.
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Obsolete. to possess; own.
verb (used without object)
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owes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
owed,
past participle, past
-
owing
present participle
verb
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to be under an obligation to pay (someone) to the amount of
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(intr) to be in debt
he still owes for his house
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(often foll by to) to have as a result (of)
he owes his success to chance
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to feel the need or obligation to do, give, etc
to owe somebody thanks
to owe it to oneself to rest
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to hold or maintain in the mind or heart (esp in the phrase owe a grudge )
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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owesimple
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owessimple
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have owedperfect
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has owedperfect
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am owingprogressive
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are owingprogressive
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is owingprogressive
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have been owingperfect progressive
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has been owingperfect progressive
Past
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owedsimple
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had owedperfect
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was owingprogressive
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were owingprogressive
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had been owingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of owe
before 900; Middle English owen to possess, be under obligation, have to pay; Old English āgan to possess; cognate with Old High German eigan, Old Norse eiga. See own, ought 1
Explanation
People owe things when they're in debt to someone. A friend can owe you a favor, and your employer owes you a paycheck. When you talk about owing, it has to do with what someone deserves from someone else. If you borrow library books, you owe them to the library after a few weeks. When you take out a loan, you owe that money to the bank. You can also owe favors and more abstract things. If a friend did something bad to you, but they've been your friend a long time, you probably owe them a second chance.
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:
“If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something,” said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired career FBI official who held senior counterintelligence roles.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
The other, with some planning, can pay about $2,450 and never owe another dollar on it.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
Then there are the cases where a patient pays several thousand dollars, only to learn they owe thousands more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
“As he said in one of his many poems, hope is what we owe people younger than ourselves.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
I owe it to him, and more than that, I want to tell him.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
With its luxury models gone, Tesla’s grip on the U.S. market owes almost entirely to its stalwart Model Y SUV.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
According to the filing, Signorello Estate believes it owes its creditors between $10 million and $50 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
She said the company "owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those whose data has been compromised".
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
She still owes $200,000 on the mortgage of that home, so she’s paying two mortgages each month: $1,600 for the home she’s selling and $1,600 for the one she now lives in.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
This is a large part of Annabelle Agnelli—the weight of what she owes everyone.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Recognizing the bloody result of America’s post-9/11 conflicts, and especially its shambolic war of choice in Iraq, does not take away from the grief and respect owed to those who were killed.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
Sources have said contracts under the previous iteration of LIV Golf will finish because of this court filing, with amounts owed to players and other creditors addressed through the court process.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Was an RMD still owed for the year of death?
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026
The single biggest driver was a $553 billion actuarial gain, meaning the present value of promises owed to employees had declined.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
To some of them, she owed something that she hadn’t paid yet, like Windy and Stewart, or Cousin Eunice.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
Daryl Caudle made news in January when he said he would oppose extending the USS Gerald Ford’s deployment, owing to the cascading consequences for maintenance and crew.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
The firm has led an eye-watering rally by tech firms over the past year and in October became the first to hit a market capitalisation of $5 trillion owing to scorching demand for its chips.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Key details: The PCE index had fallen in June for the first time in six years owing to lower gas prices.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Second, the ITC tallies Iran's exports using mostly the import numbers reported by its trading partners - owing to the difficulty in getting up to date export data from Iran.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
She was a disagreeable little woman, no longer young, who had quarreled with almost everyone, owing to a temper which was self-assertive and a disposition to trample upon the rights of others.
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
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.
