indebted

adjective

in·​debt·​ed in-ˈde-təd 

1

: owing gratitude or recognition to another : beholden

I'm indebted to you for your help.

2

: owing money

Synonyms of indebted

• obligated

Examples of indebted in a Sentence

thereafter forever felt indebted to the producer for giving her her lucky break

Recent Examples on the Web

Evergrande was the world’s most heavily indebted real estate developer with more than $300 billion in liabilities when a Hong Kong court handed down a liquidation order in 2024. —ABC News, 14 Apr. 2026

The founder of China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted property developer, pleaded guilty to charges including misuse of funds, fundraising fraud and illegally taking public deposits, a court in China’s southern city of Shenzhen said. —Reuters, NBC news, 14 Apr. 2026

The Heavily Indebted Poor Country initiative and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative delivered more than $100 billion in debt relief for 37 heavily indebted countries, the majority of them in Africa. —Sven Van Mourik, The Dial, 31 Mar. 2026

The sounds here are largely indebted to the wave of Eurodance that crossed the oceans in the late 1990s and early 2000s. —Reanna Cruz, Pitchfork, 12 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English indetted, from Anglo-French endetté, past participle of endetter to run into debt, from en- + dette debt

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for indebted

• abetted
• brevetted
• gazetted
• pigmented
• pileated
• pipetted
• regretted
• rivetted
• unheated
• carburetted
• silhouetted
• fetid

Kids Definition

indebted

adjective

in·​debt·​ed in-ˈdet-əd 

: being in debt : owing something (as money or gratitude)