arrears

«arrears» in Mova's school dictionary: owed and should have been paid already: rent arrears — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun, plural (arrears)

meaning for a pupil

1) Money that is owed and should have been paid already: rent arrears. tree →

2) In arrears: late with payments that are owed. tree →

3) Paid in arrears: paid at the end of a period of work, not at the start. tree →

sense in the lessons

A formal money word in news, letters and exam problems; in maths it means the amount still owed and not yet paid. Phrases: in arrears, rent arrears, fall into arrears, pay off the arrears, paid in arrears.

examples

• The family fell into arrears with the rent. tree →
• (formal) The club is two months in arrears with its payments. tree →
• He paid off all his arrears by the summer. tree →
• Workers are paid monthly in arrears, at the end of each month. tree →
• If the rent is 500 dollars a month and two months are unpaid, the arrears are 1,000 dollars. tree →
• The letter said the electricity bill was in arrears. tree →

note

Always plural, with no singular form: "the arrears are". Formal. "In arrears" means behind with paying. In maths, arrears = amount owed minus amount paid so far.

In the corpora

• "In arrears" means behind on payments you owe, such as rent.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «arrears» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.