toxic debt

noun

Debt that is acquired through normal financial transactions which later proves to have little or no actual value.

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Meanings

nountoxic debt (countable and uncountable, plural toxic debts)

plural toxic debts

  1. countableuncountablebusinessDebt that is acquired through normal financial transactions which later proves to have little or no actual value.

    This means the providers of the funds are basically swapping good, solid cash for potentially toxic debt.

    2005 February 15, Anthony Hilton, “Debt Game's Winners and Losers”, in Evening Standard
Cite this entry
APA

toxic debt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toxic%20debt

MLA

“toxic debt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toxic%20debt. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toxic debt,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toxic%20debt.

Source: toxic debt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.