What's the difference between debt and obligation?

Debt


Definition:

  • (n.) That which is due from one person to another, whether money, goods, or services; that which one person is bound to pay to another, or to perform for his benefit; thing owed; obligation; liability.
  • (n.) A duty neglected or violated; a fault; a sin; a trespass.
  • (n.) An action at law to recover a certain specified sum of money alleged to be due.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In the bars of Antwerp and the cafes of Bruges, the talk is less of Christmas markets and hot chocolate than of the rising cost of financing a national debt which stands at 100% of annual national income.
  • (2) Madrid now hopes that a growing clamour for future rescues of Europe's banks to be done directly, without money going via governments, may still allow it to avoid accepting loans that would add to an already fast-growing national debt.
  • (3) Profit for the second quarter was £27.8m before tax but the club’s astronomical debt under the Glazers’ ownership stands at £322.1m, a 6.2% decrease on the 2014 level of £343.4m.
  • (4) The government did not spell out the need for private holders of bank debt to take any losses – known as haircuts – under its plans but many analysts believe that this position is untenable.
  • (5) However, civil society groups have raised concerns about the ethics of providing ‘climate loans’ which increase the country’s debt burden.
  • (6) The pump function of the heart (oxygen debt dynamics), the anaerobic threshold (complex of gas analytical indices), and the efficacy of blood flow in lesser circulation (O2 consumption plateau) were appraised.
  • (7) In the UK, George Osborne used this to his advantage, claiming "Britain faces the disaster of having its international credit rating downgraded" even after Moody's ranked UK debt as "resilient".
  • (8) Thus, the decreased hyperemic response after arrest suggests a reduced energetic debt with CSC compared with ARC and may indicate superior myocardial protection with CSC.
  • (9) It was the ease with which minor debt could slide into a tangle of hunger and despair.
  • (10) Most (86 percent) had educational debt (mean = $20,500), and more than half of those with debt were making loan payments.
  • (11) Silvio Berlusconi's government is battling to stay in the eurozone against mounting odds – not least the country's mountain of state debt, which is the largest in the single currency area.
  • (12) However in a repeat of the current standoff over the federal budget, the conservative wing of the Republican party is threatening to exploit its leverage over raising the debt ceiling to unpick Obama's healthcare reforms.
  • (13) It would cost their own businesses hundreds of millions of pounds in transaction costs, it would blow a massive hole in their balance of payments, it would leave them having to pick up the entirety of UK debt.
  • (14) Nevertheless we know that there will remain a large number of borrowers with payday loans who are struggling to cope with their debts, and it is essential that these customers are signposted to free debt advice.
  • (15) Finally, there is that pesky matter of public debt, which is still 90% of eurozone GDP.
  • (16) The ONS said it was possible that these one-off items and a rise in tax receipts in January could bring the overall debt figure within the OBR's £80.5bn forecast.
  • (17) This causes a time lag, with money continuing to be taken until the SLC is made aware that the debt has been settled.
  • (18) Unsecured lending rose slightly during the month, with outstanding debt increasing by £331m, after contracting by £114m in April.
  • (19) He said: "Advanced economies are still confronted with high levels of public and private debt, which act as brakes on the recovery.
  • (20) Portugal's slide towards a Greek-style second bailout accelerated after its principal private lenders indicated that they were growing weary of assurances from Lisbon that it could get on top of the country's debts.

Obligation


Definition:

  • (n.) The act of obligating.
  • (n.) That which obligates or constrains; the binding power of a promise, contract, oath, or vow, or of law; that which constitutes legal or moral duty.
  • (n.) Any act by which a person becomes bound to do something to or for anouther, or to forbear something; external duties imposed by law, promise, or contract, by the relations of society, or by courtesy, kindness, etc.
  • (n.) The state of being obligated or bound; the state of being indebted for an act of favor or kindness; as, to place others under obligations to one.
  • (n.) A bond with a condition annexed, and a penalty for nonfulfillment. In a larger sense, it is an acknowledgment of a duty to pay a certain sum or do a certain things.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) However, he has also insisted that North Korea live up to its own commitments, adhere to its international obligations and deal peacefully with its neighbours.
  • (2) Shorten said any arrangement needed to be consistent with international obligations, with asylum seekers afforded due process and their claims properly assessed.
  • (3) And this has opened up a loophole for businesses to be morally bankrupt, ignoring the obligations to its workforce because no legal conduct has been established.” Whatever the outcome of the pending lawsuits, it’s unlikely that just one model will work for everybody.
  • (4) If we’re waiting around for the Democratic version to sail through here, or the Republican version to sail through here, all those victims who are waiting for us to do something will wait for days, months, years, forever and we won’t get anything done.” Senator Bill Nelson, whose home state of Florida is still reeling from the Orlando shooting, said he felt morally obligated to return to his constituents with results.
  • (5) 45Calcium has been used to compare the kinetics for the transport and bioaccumulation of this regulatory cation in keratinocyte cultures of a kindred with HPS (i.e., one HPS homozygote, one HPS obligate heterozygote, one normal family member, and healthy adult controls).
  • (6) The department will consider the judgment to see whether it is obliged to rerun the consultation process.
  • (7) Physicians have an obligation to ensure that parents make a well-considered decision, and to provide them with counsel and support.
  • (8) As he told us: 'Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves.'
  • (9) Organisms of the genus Bacteroides represent the major group of obligate anaerobes involved in human infections.
  • (10) Considerations of different ways of obtaining informed consent, determining ways of minimizing harm, and justifications for violating the therapeutic obligation are discussed but found unsatisfactory in many respects.
  • (11) As commander in chief, I believe that taking care of our veterans and their families is a sacred obligation.
  • (12) A 20% discount will save the average first-time buyer £43,000 on a £218,000 home (the average cost paid by such buyers), which would leave a revenue shortfall of £8bn from income if current regulatory obligations had been retained on the 200,000 homes.
  • (13) Justice Hiley later suggested the conduct required by a doctor outside of his profession, as Chapman was describing it, was perhaps a “broad generality” and not specific enough “to create an ethical obligation.” “It’s no broader than the Hippocratic oath,” Chapman said in her reply.
  • (14) Asked by Marr if he knew if Ashcroft paid tax in this country, Hague said:" I'm sure he fulfils the obligations that were imposed on him at the time he became …" Marr: "Have you asked him?"
  • (15) These species are all obligately anaerobic, asaccharolytic, and generally nonreactive, and they grow poorly and slowly on media commonly used to isolate anaerobic bacteria.
  • (16) According to Swedish law, couples who are planning to marry are obliged to publish their address.
  • (17) In the present report we summarize our data on 144 obligate female carriers.
  • (18) But whether it arose from religious belief, from a noblesse oblige or from a sense of solidarity, duty in Britain has been, to most people, the foundation of rights rather than their consequence.
  • (19) No serious side effects were reported and none of the patients was obliged to terminate treatment because of side effects.
  • (20) This paper argues that although this is true of some types of obligation, including the ones discussed by Professor Kluge, it is by no means true of all.