Lien Meaning
/liːn/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA tendon.
nounA right to take possession of a debtor’s property as security until a debt or duty is discharged.
Sentence Examples
There's a lien on my house.
The interplanetary bank placed a lien on Tom's space cruiser.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The bank placed a ____ on the house because the owner failed to repay the loan.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The bank placed a ____ on the property as security for the large loan that was used to buy the house.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French lien, from Latin ligāmen (“a bond”), from ligō (“tie, bind”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] every youth movement presents itself as loan to the future, and tries to call in its lien in advance, but when there is no future all loans are canceled."
— 1989, Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces, Faber & Faber, published 2009:
"Bodin deemed the king of France's power as absolute in the sense that the ruler was ‘absolved’ by divine sanction from legally binding liens and restrictions."
— 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 7:
"In fact, an 1847 state medical convention in Alambama issued a recommendation that doctors caring for slaves seek liens upon the human chattel if their bills were not paid."
— 2008, Harriet A. Washington, “Southern Discomfort”, in Medical Apartheid, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, page 65:
"And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done vnto vs? one of the people might lightly haue lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest haue brought guiltinesse vpon vs.”"
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 26:10:
"And the Priest shall charge her by an othe, and say vnto the woman, If no man haue lyen with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to vncleannesse with another in stead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 5:19:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The bank placed a ____ on the house because the owner failed to repay the loan.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The bank placed a ____ on the property as security for the large loan that was used to buy the house.