debt
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: business
finance
law
Etymology: From Middle English dette, dett, borrowed 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 (“to owe”), contraction of *dehibeō (“I have from”), from de (“from”) + habeō (“to have”). Doublet of debit. Displaced native Old English eofot.
The unpronounced "b" in the modern English spelling is a Latinisation from the Latin etymon dēbitum.
Inflected forms:
form: debts
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: dette
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: det
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: An action, state of mind, or object one has an obligation to perform for another, adopt toward another, or give to another.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt / Of this proud king, who studies day and night / To answer all the debt he owes to you / Even with the bloody payment of your deaths.
This long debt of confidence, due from me to him, whose bane and ruin I have been, shall at length be paid.
gloss: The state or condition of owing something to another.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: I am in your debt.
The petty ſtreames that paie a dailie det / To their ſalt ſoveraigne with their freſh fals haſt, / Adde to his flowe, but alter not his taſt.
Hey! Wait! I've got a new complaint / Forever in debt to your priceless advice
gloss: Money that one person or entity owes or is required to pay to another, generally as a result of a loan or other financial transaction.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Bolsheviki had repudiated the four-billion-dollar debt which the government of the Tsar had contracted with the bankers.
Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.
I don't own any stocks or bonds. All my money is tied up in debt.
gloss: An action at law to recover a certain specified sum of money alleged to be due
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
Related words: debit
debitor
debtor
indebted
owe
Derived words: acquisition debt
antidebt
bad debt
bonded debt
book debt
carbon debt
collateralized debt obligation
debt bondage
debt burden
debt ceiling
debt collection
debt collector
debted
debtee
debt enforcement
debt-equity ratio
debt exchange
debt-financed
debt-for-nature
debt-free
debtholder
debt instrument
debt-laden
debtless
debtlike
debt obligation
debt of honor
debt of honour
debt of nature
debt release
debt relief
debt-ridden
debt slave
debt slavery
debt trap
debt trap diplomacy
dequity
domestic debt
European debt crisis
external debt
foreign debt
government debt
in debt
in someone's debt
karmic debt
margin debt
megadebt
mezzanine debt
national debt
nondebt
nonfinancial debt
odious debt
oxygen debt
pay nature's debt
pay one's debt to society
pay the debt of nature
phantom debt
privileged debt
public debt
robo-debt
secured debt
sleep debt
sovereign debt
tech debt
technical debt
toxic debt
unsecured debt
zombie debt
Translations: