To be required to
repay money or another
asset to an individual, company, or other organization. One owes a
debt after one has
borrowed money or another asset. In business and government, debt is often owed in the form of
bonds, which are
securities entitling the bearer to repayment at the appropriate time(s). Occasionally, especially for personal
loans, debt is owed without
interest or other
compensation; one simply owes what was lent. This is exceedingly rare in business and a debtor almost always owes a
creditor a certain amount of interest, representing the
time value of money.