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# 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/#m1)

2) In arrears: late with payments that are owed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/#m2)

3) Paid in arrears: paid at the end of a period of work, not at the start. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/#m3)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/#x1)
- (formal) The club is two months in arrears with its payments. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/#x2)
- He paid off all his arrears by the summer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/#x3)
- Workers are paid monthly in arrears, at the end of each month. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/#x4)
- If the rent is 500 dollars a month and two months are unpaid, the arrears are 1,000 dollars. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/#x5)
- The letter said the electricity bill was in arrears. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/#x6)

### 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.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «arrears» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/arrears/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.