creditor

noun

cred·​i·​tor ˈkre-di-tər 

-ˌtȯr

: one to whom a debt is owed

especially : a person to whom money or goods are due

Examples of creditor in a Sentence

She owes thousands of dollars to creditors.

Recent Examples on the Web

The creditor spent days hitting refresh on the FedEx tracking site but never saw the package appear. —Steve Belanger, HollywoodReporter, 23 Oct. 2025

First Brands Group Holdings has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, capping weeks of turmoil sparked by creditor concern over the auto-suppliers use of opaque off-balance sheet financing. —Michael Wayland, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2025

But creditors allege First Brands used the same invoice multiple times to access funds from private lenders that were unaware of the double dipping. —Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2025

First Brands, a sprawling auto-parts conglomerate, collapsed with over $2 billion reportedly missing from its accounts and more than $10 billion owed to creditors, including some of Wall Street’s biggest firms. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 17 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for creditor

• editor
• predator
• coeditor

Kids Definition

creditor

noun

cred·​i·​tor ˈkred-ət-ər 

: a person to whom a debt is owed

Legal Definition

creditor

noun

cred·​i·​tor ˈkre-də-tər, -ˌtȯr 

: a person to whom a debt is owed

especially : a person to whom money or goods are due compare debtor, obligor

— general creditor

: a creditor who is not secured by a lien or other security interest

called also unsecured creditor

— judgment creditor

: a creditor who has a money judgment entered against the debtor and may enforce the judgment (as by attachment or writ of execution)

— known creditor

: a creditor whose potential claim is known or should be known by a debtor and who is entitled to notice of a corporate dissolution or of a date at which claims will be barred (as in bankruptcy)

— lien creditor

: a creditor who is secured by a lien (as by attachment)

— secured creditor

: a creditor who has a security interest (as a mortgage)

— unsecured creditor

: general creditor in this entry