Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An unpaid, overdue debt or an unfulfilled obligation.
- n. The state of being behind in fulfilling obligations: an account in arrears.
Wiktionary
- n. An unpaid or overdue obligation. A debt.
- n. Plural form of arrear.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the state of being behind in payments
- n. an unpaid overdue debt
Etymologies
- Middle English arrers, from arrere, behind, from Old French arere, from Vulgar Latin *ad retrō, backward : Latin ad, to; see ad- + Latin retrō, behind; see re- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Of the 1.8 million people with such loans, 400,000 are behind on their payments - with 100,000 in arrears by three months or more.”
“Peter Cargill claimed that the number of indebted countries in arrears regarding payments to the World Bank and/or that were seeking to renegotiate their multilateral debt had risen from three to eighteen between 1974 and 1978!”
“Pathetic, think that maybe Ensign was in arrears on paying for his Cadillac health plan there?”
“If you are a skilled planner how do you let a modest mortgage get months in arrears while earning $118k a year?”
“And when I was writing my story, I visited Kansas City, a pretty working-class crowd, and I talked to a lot of men who had been in arrears in child support.”
“The Braves are buried, along with the Marlins, eight games in arrears with 32 to go.”
Division race over, Braves turn sights toward wild card - sports
“A least one notice regarding the hearing will have been sent to the last known address of the individual in arrears, OR published in a newspaper from the area where the hearing will be held.”
“Can an individual who is in arrears on child support payments have his/her bank account frozen?”
“Not only can they freeze his accounts (and depending how much in arrears he is in) They can seize it for back child support.”
“More gravely, it is as much as three years in arrears to providers of building supplies and electrical services.”
The Wall Street Journal: Spanish Towns Struggle Under Crushing Debts
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘arrears’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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February 2012
filiopietistic, bifurcate, enclave, wedlock, decadent, unduly, defunct, lapel, tumescent, capitulation, leaden, scintilla and 83 more...
jwjarvis there was a persistent need to grapple with appeals from individuals who had fallen in arrears. Sep 14, 2010
chained_bear No. Aug 20, 2008
super-logos c-b, does this word chafe your ass? Aug 20, 2008