Debt Definition

dĕt
debts
noun
Something owed by one person to another or others.
Webster's New World
An obligation or liability to pay or return something.
Webster's New World
The condition of owing.
To be in debt a thousand dollars.
Webster's New World
A sin.
Webster's New World
Financial instruments, such as bonds, mortgages, and loans, that represent a claim to payment and rights of creditorship.
Invested in government debt; a company issuing debt.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
idiom
be in someone's debt
  • to be indebted, obligated, or beholden to someone
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Debt

Noun

Singular:
debt
Plural:
debts

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Debt

  • be in someone's debt

Origin of Debt

  • From Middle English dett, from Old French dete (French: dette), from Medieval Latin dēbita, from Latin dēbitum (“what is owed, a debt, a duty”), neuter of dēbitus, perfect passive participle of dēbeō (“I owe”), contraction of *dehibeō (“I have from”), from de (“from”) + habeō (“I have”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English dette from Old French from Vulgar Latin dēbita pl. of Latin dēbitum debt neuter past participle of dēbēre to owe ghabh- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • The unpronounced "b" in the modern English spelling is a Latinisation from the Latin etymon dēbitum.

    From Wiktionary

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