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 other primary beneficiary in the Citgo sale is oil giant ConocoPhillips, which holds more than half of the creditors’ roughly $20 billion in claims. —Jordan Blum, Fortune, 9 Jan. 2026

The country now owes tens of billions of dollars to a tangled web of creditors who are optimistic the US’ recent involvement could help speed a restructuring. —Eleanor Mueller, semafor.com, 7 Jan. 2026

The bottom line Retirement accounts enjoy strong protections in bankruptcy, with most 401(k)s and pension plans completely shielded from creditors. —Angelica Leicht, CBS News, 7 Jan. 2026

Advertisement President Theodore Roosevelt, not long thereafter, introduced what would later be known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine after European creditors of a number of Latin American countries threatened to use armed intervention to collect debts. —Nandika Chatterjee, Time, 7 Jan. 2026

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