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owe

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verb [transitive] British English pronunciation: owe /əʊ/ 
Word Forms
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present tense
I/you/we/theyowe
he/she/itowes
present participleowing
past tenseowed
past participleowed
  1. 1
    if you owe someone money, you have to give them a particular amount of money because you have bought something from them or have borrowed money from them. Money that you owe is called a debt

    Tell me how much I owe, and I’ll give it to you.

    owe someone something:

    Pam still owes me £5.

    owe someone something for something:

    How much do we owe you for the tickets?

    owe something to someone:

    The companies owe as much as £200 billion to foreign lenders.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  oweThesaurus entry for this meaning of owe
  2. 2
    to think you should treat someone in a particular way
    owe someone something:

    She feels she owes her fans another concert.

    After the way she’s treated him, he doesn’t owe her anything.

    owe it to someone to do something:

    They owe it to their children to try to save the marriage.

    owe it to yourself to do something:

    I think you owe it to yourself to have a day off work.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  oweThesaurus entry for this meaning of owe
    1. a.
      used about feelings that you should have about someone

      I think you owe us at least a little respect.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  oweThesaurus entry for this meaning of owe
    2. b.
      used about things that you should say to someone
      owe someone an apology/explanation:

      Don’t you think you owe her an apology for the way you’ve behaved?

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  oweThesaurus entry for this meaning of owe
    3. c.
      used about things that you should give to someone

      I think we owe them a letter.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  oweThesaurus entry for this meaning of owe
  3. 3
    to have something only because someone or something has helped you
    owe something to someone/something:

    The company owes its success to its excellent training programme.

    owe much/a lot/a great deal to someone/something:

    The cathedral clearly owes a great deal to French design.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  oweThesaurus entry for this meaning of owe
  4. 4
    to feel grateful to someone because of the way that they have helped you
    owe someone something:

    We really owe you a great deal for all your hard work this year.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  oweThesaurus entry for this meaning of owe

phrases

This is the British English definition of owe. View American English definition of owe.

Change your default dictionary and thesaurus to American English.

 

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