Definition of “credit” - English Dictionary

“credit” in British English

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uk /ˈkred.ɪt/ us /ˈkred.ɪt/

credit noun (PRAISE)

B2 [ U ] praise, approval, or honour:

She got no credit for solving the problem.
Her boss took credit for it/took (all) the credit instead.
To her (great) credit, she admitted she was wrong.
I gave him credit for (= thought that he would have) better judgment than he showed.
be a credit to sb/sth

to do something that makes a person, group, or organization feel proud or receive praise:

She is a credit to her family.
do your family, parents, teacher, etc. credit

to cause someone who has been or is responsible for you to receive praise by your good behaviour or successful actions:

She does her teachers credit.
all credit to sb

used to show that you think a person deserves a lot of praise for something that they have done:

All credit to her, she did it all herself.

More examples

credit noun (MONEY)

B1 [ U ] a method of paying for goods or services at a later time, usually paying interest as well as the original money:

They decided to buy the car on credit.
The shop was offering six months' (interest-free) credit on electronic goods.

B1 [ C or U ] money in your bank account:

I was relieved to see from my statement that my account was in credit.

More examples

  • Her credit is good .
  • Now I've paid in that cheque, I'm in credit again.

credit noun (COURSE UNIT)

B2 [ C ] a unit that represents a successfully finished part of an educational course:

Each of these classes is worth three credits.


uk /ˈkred.ɪt/ us /ˈkred.ɪt/

(Definition of “credit” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

“credit” in American English

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us /ˈkred·ɪt/

credit noun (PAYMENT LATER)

[ U ] a method of buying goods or services that allows you to pay for them in the future:

We bought our sofa on credit.

credit noun (PRAISE)

[ C/U ] praise or approval, esp. to recognize achievement:

[ U ] You have to give him credit for being so honest.
[ U ] How can he take credit for work he didn’t do?

credit noun (MONEY AVAILABLE)

[ C/U ] an amount of money available to you because you paid for something earlier, or a record of this money:



[ C ] a tax credit

credit noun (COURSE UNIT)

[ C ] a unit of measurement of the value contributed by an educational course to a college degree:

Comparative religion is a three-credit course.

creditverb [ T ]

us /ˈkred·ət/

credit verb [ T ] (BELIEVE)

to believe or trust something that may not be true:

If you can credit what the doctor says, the illness isn’t serious.
adjective us /ˈkred·ət̬·ə·bəl/

She gave a creditable performance of a woman in love.

(Definition of “credit” from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

“credit” in Business English

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uk /ˈkredɪt/ us

[ U ] COMMERCE, FINANCE a method of paying for goods or services at a later time, usually paying interest as well as the original amount:

give/extend/offer credit to sb U.S. banks are reluctant to extend credit to the troubled nation.
deny/refuse sb credit Have you ever been refused credit?
on credit They've purchased all sorts of leisure equipment on credit.
The card has no annual fee and users get up to eight weeks' interest-free credit.

[ U ] FINANCE the money lent by financial organizations to companies, governments, people, etc.:

domestic/foreign/international credit The central bank attributed the rise in domestic credit during the period to a rise in private sector credit.
cheap/affordable/easy credit Rising house prices were fueled by easy credit.
Agricultural borrowers are concerned about credit availability as the farm economy weakens.

[ U ] FINANCE the amount of risk when lending money to a particular person or organization, based on how likely they are to pay it back:

weak/poor/bad credit Too many mortgages had been granted to home buyers with weak credit.
good credit They will let you take the goods and pay later if your credit is good.

[ C ] BANKING a payment of money into a bank account:

His bank statement shows two credits of $5000 each.
in credit

UK BANKING if a person or their bank account is in credit, there is money in the account:

As long as you stay in credit, there will be no charges for normal transactions on your account.

[ C ] abbreviation CR ACCOUNTING an amount recorded on the right side of a company's financial accounts, which shows a decrease in assets or an increase in debt:

The accounting system automatically generates a credit to the account that was debited.

[ C or S ] TAX an amount by which someone is allowed to reduce the amount of tax they pay, because they have spent money on a particular thing:

He introduced a new tax break in the form of a child-care credit.
See also

[ C or U ] ACCOUNTING, COMMERCE an amount of money that you have available to spend with a store or business, for example, because you returned a product or paid too much for it:

If you are dissatisfied with any item, it may be returned within 14 days for credit, refund, or exchange.

[ U ] praise for doing something good:

credit for sth The whole team deserves credit for bringing the project in on time.
take (the) credit She felt he had taken the credit for her idea.

creditverb [ T ]

uk /ˈkredɪt/ us

BANKING, FINANCE to show that money has been added to something such as an account:

When dividends are received the shareholder's account will be credited.
credit sth with €10/€1000, etc. Within a week my card was credited with the $219 difference.
credit €10/€1000, etc. to sth The bank mistakenly credited almost $1 million to his account.

ACCOUNTING to record an amount on the right side of a company's financial accounts to show a decrease in assets or an increase in debt:

credit sth to sth A fair amount should be periodically credited to 'reserve' for depreciation.

(Definition of “credit” from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)