debtor

noun

debt·​or ˈde-tər 

1

: one guilty of neglect or violation of duty

2

: one who owes a debt

Examples of debtor in a Sentence

The debtor agrees to pay the debt over a three-year period.

Recent Examples on the Web

In May 2023, Tasha K made the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, to which the court notified Cardi as well as 30 debtors including the IRS, the Broward County Tax Collector, the Florida Department of Revenue, and Bank of America. —Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 6 Mar. 2025

Assure that the company is certified by the American Association for Debt Resolution and has a history of helping debtors negotiate with creditors. —Víctor Rosario, Sacramento Bee, 28 Feb. 2025

However, when one of his debtors follows him to the laundromat, the line between right and wrong begins to blur, forcing Dunn to make a choice that could cost him his own soul. —Zac Ntim, Deadline, 19 Feb. 2025

Allina Health, a nonprofit based in Minnesota, denied care to patients, including children, with unpaid bills, placing them in a kind of medical debtors’ purgatory. —Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for debtor

• better
• bettor
• fetter
• getter
• letter
• netter
• petar
• petter
• rhetor
• setter
• sweater
• tetter

Kids Definition

debtor

noun

debt·​or ˈdet-ər 

1

: sinner

2

: one that owes a debt

Legal Definition

debtor

noun

debt·​or

: a person who owes a debt see also bankrupt compare creditor, obligee, obligor

Note: The Bankruptcy Act of 1978 calls the person concerned in a bankruptcy case the “debtor” as opposed to the “bankrupt.”