Debt
/ˈdɛt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn action, state of mind, or object one has an obligation to perform for another, adopt toward another, or give to another.
nounThe state or condition of owing something to another.
Sentence Examples
You need only ask him to pay the debt.
Our debt is more than we can pay.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He struggled to pay off his student ____ for years.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You need only ask him to pay the ____.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1589, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, act 1, scene 3:
"This long debt of confidence, due from me to him, whose bane and ruin I have been, shall at length be paid."
— 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 14, in The Scarlet Letter:
"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."
— 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
"Hey! Wait! I've got a new complaint / Forever in debt to your priceless advice"
— 1993, Kurt Cobain, “Heart-Shaped Box”, in In Utero, performed by Nirvana:
"Bolsheviki had repudiated the four-billion-dollar debt which the government of the Tsar had contracted with the bankers."
— 1919, Upton Sinclair, chapter 15, in Jimmie Higgins:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He struggled to pay off his student ____ for years.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You need only ask him to pay the ____.