owe

verb transitive

UK /əʊ/

Word Forms

present tense
I/you/we/they	owe
he/she/it	owes
present participle	owing
past tense	owed
past participle	owed

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.
Synonyms and related words
Relating to borrowing money and owing money
borrowing
borrowing powers
call it quits
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.
Synonyms and related words
Moral rules and rules of behaviour
rule
convention
law
1. 2a
  used about feelings that you should have about someone
  I think you owe us at least a little respect.
  Synonyms and related words
  Moral rules and rules of behaviour
  rule
  convention
  law
2. 2b
  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?
  Synonyms and related words
  Moral rules and rules of behaviour
  rule
  convention
  law
3. 2c
  used about things that you should give to someone
  I think we owe them a letter.
  Synonyms and related words
  Moral rules and rules of behaviour
  rule
  convention
  law
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.
Synonyms and related words
To be grateful, or to say thank you
thank
acknowledge
appreciate
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.
Synonyms and related words
To be grateful, or to say thank you
thank
acknowledge
appreciate

phrases

I owe you one

owe your allegiance/loyalty/obedience to

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