owe
To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
Example
“We owe it to our children to make our nation a better place to live in the future.”
Other meanings
To have debt; to be in debt.
To have as a cause; used with to.
“The record owes its success to the outstanding guitar solos.”
Related words
- how much do I owe you
- owe it to oneself
- owe out
- owe someone one
- the world owes one a living
- to what do I owe the pleasure
- ower
Example sentences
Word history
From Old English "āgan".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “owe” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.