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Meaning & use

debt of gratitude

phrase·Advanced

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UK/ˌdet əv ˈɡræt.ɪ.tʃuːd/
US/ˌdet əv ˈɡræt.ə.tuːd/

Meanings

  1. phrasecountable

    A strong feeling of thankfulness toward someone who has helped you, seen as something you owe them.

    Grammar: Countable and used mainly in the fixed pattern owe someone a debt of gratitude.

    Patterns

    • owe someone a debt of gratitude
    • a debt of gratitude to someone
    • feel a debt of gratitude toward someone

    After years of support, she felt she owed her old teacher a debt of gratitude.

    We owe a great debt of gratitude to the nurses who stayed through the worst weeks.

    He never forgot the debt of gratitude he owed to the family that took him in.

  2. phrasecountable

    A duty to be grateful and to help someone in return for past kindness.

    Grammar: Often used after verbs like acknowledge or repay when the duty is recognized but not yet carried out.

    Patterns

    • acknowledge a debt of gratitude
    • repay a debt of gratitude

    The whole town acknowledges a debt of gratitude to the doctor who served it for forty years.

    There is no way I can repay my debt of gratitude to the people who saved my son.

Common combinations

owe a debt of gratitude
I owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who wrote letters on my behalf.
a deep debt of gratitude
The country feels a deep debt of gratitude to its wartime volunteers.
a debt of gratitude to someone
She has a lasting debt of gratitude to the coach who believed in her.
acknowledge a debt of gratitude
In his speech he acknowledged a debt of gratitude to his parents.

Synonyms and how they differ

thankfulness
Names the feeling itself, but it does not suggest that you owe someone anything in return.
gratitude
The general word for being grateful; debt of gratitude adds the idea of an obligation you carry.
indebtedness
More formal and colder, often used about money or duty rather than warm feeling.

Opposites

ingratitude

Word family

grateful adjective
Feeling or showing thanks for something someone has done.
gratitude noun
The feeling of being thankful; the simple noun behind this phrase.
ingratitude noun
A lack of thankfulness, especially when kindness is forgotten.

Commonly confused: debt of gratitude or debt of honor?

debt of gratitude vs debt of honor

A debt of honor is a moral duty to pay money that cannot legally be demanded; a debt of gratitude is about thankfulness, not money.

Practice

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