OWE | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of owe in English oweverb [ T ] uk /əʊ/ us /oʊ/

owe verb [T] (HAVE DEBTS)

Add to word list Add to word list B1 to need to pay or give something to someone because they have lent money to you, or in exchange for something they have done for you: [ + two objects ] I owe Janet $50. We still owe $1,000 on our car (= we still need to pay $1,000 before we own our car). I owe you a drink for helping me move. I think you owe (= should give) me an explanation/apology. See also IOU

• "As I recall," he said with some irritation, "you still owe me £150."
• It's just struck me that I still owe you for the concert tickets.
• It'll be difficult to sort out how much each person owes.
• He'd better pay me back that money he owes me soon, or else.
• I owe you an apology - I'm afraid I forgot to send Amanda that report.

Borrowing & lending

• amortizable
• amortization
• bankruptcy filer
• BB
• begging bowl
• debt
• lend something to someone/something
• lending rate
• leveraged
• liability
• liquidation
• liquidity
• payable
• receiver
• syndicate
• toxic debt
• tracker
• unamortized
• uncollectable
• uncollectible

See more results »

owe verb [T] (AS A RESULT)

C2 to have success, happiness, a job, etc. only because of what someone has given you or done for you or because of your own efforts: I owe my success to my education. He owes his life to the staff at the hospital. I owe everything (= I am very grateful) to my parents. Relieved and thankful

• all's well that ends well idiom
• appreciate
• appreciative
• appreciative of something
• appreciatively
• beholden
• bless you! idiom
• debt
• gratefully
• gratitude
• gratitude journal
• I owe you (one) idiom
• in acknowledgment of something
• indebted
• relievedly
• slay
• ta
• thank
• thank God, goodness, heaven(s), etc. idiom
• touched

See more results »

Idioms

I owe you (one) owe someone a living owe it to yourself (Definition of owe from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

owe | American Dictionary

oweverb us /oʊ/

owe verb (HAVE A DEBT)

Add to word list Add to word list [ I/T ] to have the responsibility to pay or give back something you have received from someone: [ T ] Don’t forget – you owe me ten dollars.

owe verb (BE GRATEFUL)

[ T ] to be grateful to someone or something because of what the person or thing provided or made possible: I owe a lot to my parents, who have always supported and encouraged me.

Idioms

owe it to someone to do something you owe it to yourself to do something (Definition of owe from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

owe | Business English

oweverb [ T ] uk /əʊ/ us Add to word list Add to word list FINANCE, COMMERCE to need to pay or give something to someone because they have lent money to you: owe sb $5/$500, etc. I owe you £200. How much do we owe the bank? He claims the firm owes him money.owe $5/$500, etc. to sb The company owes $618 million to its creditors.owe $100/$1000, etc. on sth We still owe $1000 on our car.owe $100/$1000, etc. in sth The government alleges that he owes $54 million in unpaid taxes. to have had someone help you or do something good for you, so that you should do something similar for them: He owes you a favor for helping him with the project.owe sb (one) Thanks - I owe you one! (Definition of owe from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of owe

owe Since a claim is a duty owed particularly to the person, the unfairness is plainly suffered by that person. From the Cambridge English Corpus When making these observations, however, flight was ignored, owing to the difficulties caused by its very short duration in the small observation-jars. From the Cambridge English Corpus Unfortunately, two of the three maps are difficult to read owing to the poor quality of reproduction. From the Cambridge English Corpus Urban respondents were more likely to owe money to a loan-agent, and less likely to owe it to a bank. From the Cambridge English Corpus We describe their second approach here owing to its simplicity. From the Cambridge English Corpus The unpunctured spherical film drains, owing to gravity, eventually becoming naturally unstable when its thickness is of order 0.07pm. From the Cambridge English Corpus I was able to record such a large body of data owing to the assistance of my friends, many of whom were network marketers themselves. From the Cambridge English Corpus Nor is identification unconditionally owed to existing institutions. From the Cambridge English Corpus The latter type displays a fairly complex distribution, owing to the fact that it can sometimes appear in contexts without overt negation. From the Cambridge English Corpus Presumably, the pulses are not as strong for low and high k, owing to interference with the forcing and dissipation. From the Cambridge English Corpus Prices become merely nominal if payment is not instantaneously done, no man knows what he owes, and yet everything is done on credit. From the Cambridge English Corpus During the dry season the locusts could be approached nearer than during the rains, owing to their inactivity when the humidity is low. From the Cambridge English Corpus The localized solutions, at early times, are found to be damped owing to the dust-charge fluctuations. From the Cambridge English Corpus The consequences of such an encounter are expected to lead to a complex pattern of vortices owing to cut and connect processes and pairing processes. From the Cambridge English Corpus The specimen as preserved is slightly concave, owing to compression. From the Cambridge English Corpus These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. What is the pronunciation of owe?

Translations of owe

in Chinese (Traditional) 負債, 欠（債）, 欠（帳）… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 负债, 欠（债）, 欠（账）… See more in Spanish deber… See more in Portuguese dever, dever a… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian देऊ लागणे, च्यासाठी ऋणी असणे, कोणामुळे तरी तुम्हाला यश… See more （人）に借金がある, 借（か）りがある, ～のおかげである… See more borçlu olmak, borcu olmak… See more devoir… See more deure… See more schuldig zijn… See more ஒருவருக்கு பணம் செலுத்த வேண்டும் அல்லது கொடுக்க வேண்டும், ஏனென்றால் அவர்கள் உங்களுக்கு பணம் கொடுத்திருக்கிறார்கள், அல்லது அவர்கள் உங்களுக்காக செய்த ஒன்றுக்கு ஈடாக… See more (किसी के दिए पैसे उधार या की उदारता का) ऋणी होना, देनदार होना, (अपनी सफलता… See more તમારે કોઈને કંઈક આપવાનું થાય છે કારણ કે તેઓએ તમને પૈસા ઉધાર આપ્યા છે, અથવા વિનિમયમાં તમારે માટે કંઈક કર્યું છે., નું ઋણી હોવું… See more skylde… See more vara skyldig… See more berhutang… See more schulden… See more skylde, være takk skyldig… See more مقروض ہونا, زیر احسان ہونا, ممنون ہونا… See more бути винним, заборгувати… See more ఎవరైనా మీకు డబ్బు అప్పుగా ఇవ్వడం వల్ల లేదా ఎవరైనా మీ కోసం చేసిన పనికి బదులుగా వాళ్లకు చెల్లించవలసి వచ్చు లేదా ఏదైనా ఇవ్వవలసి వచ్చు, ఎవరైనా మీకు ఇచ్చిన లేదా మీ కోసం చేసిన దాని వల్ల లేదా మీ స్వంత ప్రయత్నాల వల్ల మాత్రమే విజయం, ఆనందం… See more ঋণী থাকা, ঋণ করা, ঋণগ্রস্ত হওয়া… See more dlužit… See more meminjam, berhutang… See more เป็นหนี้… See more nợ… See more być winnym… See more 빚지다… See more dovere… See more Need a translator?

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ovulatory ovule ovum ow owe owe a debt of gratitude/thanks idiom owe it to someone to do something idiom owe it to yourself idiom owe someone a living idiom {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of owe

• owe something on something
• owe it to someone to do something idiom
• you owe it to yourself to do something idiom
• I owe you (one) idiom
• owe it to yourself idiom
• owe someone a living idiom
• owe a debt of gratitude/thanks idiom

See all meanings

• owe it to someone to do something idiom
• you owe it to yourself to do something idiom
• I owe you (one) idiom
• owe it to yourself idiom
• owe someone a living idiom
• owe a debt of gratitude/thanks idiom

See all idioms and phrases

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to admit failure

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• English   
  • Verb 
    • owe (HAVE DEBTS)
    • owe (AS A RESULT)
• American   
  • Verb 
    • owe (HAVE A DEBT)
    • owe (BE GRATEFUL)
• Business   Verb
• Examples

• Translations
• Grammar
• All translations

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