debt service

noun

: the amount of interest and sinking fund payments due annually on long-term debt

Examples of debt service in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The price is too high and requires debt service payments that extend too far and impose too much risk. Todd Feurer, CBS News, 18 May 2026 Higher ratings free up money for core infrastructure instead of debt service. Linh Tat, Oc Register, 4 May 2026 But the gains have been far too small to cover the county’s debt service and other funding obligations, generating an annual loss of around $15 million. J.c. Bradbury, The Conversation, 22 Apr. 2026 This is the first time in the past 70 years where American consumers are spending more money on all 12 major monthly expenditures at once—health care, local taxes, debt service, food, housing, transportation, utilities, insurance, entertainment, mobile, clothes, and education—Flickinger said. Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for debt service

Word History

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of debt service was in 1929

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Cite this Entry

“Debt service.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/debt%20service. Accessed 21 May. 2026.

Legal Definition

debt service

noun
: the amount of interest and principal payments due annually on long-term debt
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