national debt
noun
: the total amount of money that the government of a country owes to companies, countries, etc.
Examples of national debt in a Sentence
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Instead, many members of Congress would rather spend tariff revenue on decreasing the national debt.
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Bebe Hodges, Cincinnati Enquirer, 1 Dec. 2025
The sizable disparity has led economists—when such proposals were previously made—to question whether tariffs could come close to offsetting the fiscal impacts of abolishing income tax while still allowing the government to pare down the national debt.
—Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2025
The national debt was also surging.
—Ian King, CNBC, 26 Nov. 2025
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), the nonpartisan budget watchdog that regularly crunches numbers on policy impacts on the $38 trillion national debt, included $50 billion as one estimate in a series of projections published in early November.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 24 Nov. 2025
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Bebe Hodges, Cincinnati Enquirer, 1 Dec. 2025
The sizable disparity has led economists—when such proposals were previously made—to question whether tariffs could come close to offsetting the fiscal impacts of abolishing income tax while still allowing the government to pare down the national debt.
—Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2025
The national debt was also surging.
—Ian King, CNBC, 26 Nov. 2025
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), the nonpartisan budget watchdog that regularly crunches numbers on policy impacts on the $38 trillion national debt, included $50 billion as one estimate in a series of projections published in early November.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 24 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for national debt
Cite this Entry
“National debt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/national%20debt. Accessed 9 Dec. 2025.
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