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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

debt

/dɛt/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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Leave the b silent.

One syllable: det. The b is silent; compare doubt, which also has a silent b.

TRY SAYING
The company reduced its debt.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

What does debt mean?

noun

  1. An action, state of mind, or object one has an obligation to perform for another, adopt toward another, or give to another.
  2. The state or condition of owing something to another.
  3. 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.
More meanings (1)

noun

  1. An action at law to recover a certain specified sum of money alleged to be due

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/dɛt/

Pronunciation used in the listening tip.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

Poland, with its hard currency debt of approximately $40 billion, is severely limited in its ability to import much-needed hard currency goods.
United States. Central Intelligence AgencyThe 1990 CIA World FactbookProject Gutenberg ebook #14
He had formerly been in business at Bristol, but failed in debt to a number of people, compounded and went to America.
Benjamin FranklinThe Autobiography of Benjamin FranklinProject Gutenberg ebook #148
More book examples (3)
“There shall be no war between any of us in the Pack. But here is a debt to pay before I go.”
Rudyard KiplingThe Jungle BookProject Gutenberg ebook #236
Burns himself not only acknowledged his debt in a fragment of autobiography, but erected a tomb over the grave in Canongate churchyard.
Robert Louis StevensonEdinburgh: Picturesque NotesProject Gutenberg ebook #382
The merchant subsequently turned out a very great knave, cheating Tom on various occasions, and finally broke very much in his debt.
George BorrowWild Wales: Its People, Language and SceneryProject Gutenberg ebook #648