owing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of owe.

   Owing a large sum to the bank, he postponed the vacation.

   She disliked owing favors to people she barely knew.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs. As a gerund it names the state of being in someone's debt (she disliked owing favors). As a participle it can open a clause of cause (owing a large sum, he waited). That causal use draws on owe followed by to, and it hardened into the fixed phrase owing to, meaning roughly "because of." The phrase is now best treated as a preposition in its own right.

2. 2
   adjective

   Still to be paid; remaining as a debt that has not yet been settled.

   The landlord listed every cent owing from the previous tenants.

   Once the final installment was made, nothing was owing on the loan.

   Similaroutstanding, due, unpaid, payable

   Oppositepaid, settled

   Note

   An adjective that prefers to stand after its noun or after a verb like be or remain: subscriptions remain owing, the balance owing, nothing was owing. Placed before a noun it sounds awkward, and that is the position where outstanding takes over. It is not comparable. A sum is either owing or it is not, so nothing can be more owing than another.

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