IOU
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Governments and corporations sell bonds - essentially an IOU - to raise money for spending, and in return they pay interest.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Essentially, you borrow from the account and create an IOU to yourself.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 14, 2026
Credit is the promise to pay money, an IOU.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Should a player lose beyond his ability to pay, the others may allow him time to pay off his loss—usually, time until the next game—and he may offer up an IOU.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
It was a photocopy of a handwritten note: IOU one Roman praetor.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Then there were my friends who were saying, “Yeah I’ll loan you money on an I.O.U., but I don’t have that much money.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2023
Her contributions are a gift, not fulfillment of an I.O.U.
From Slate ● Feb. 17, 2022
He bought homes for poor families and carried in his wallet a $1,500 I.O.U. from Ralph Guldahl, to whom Sam had staked a loan when Guldahl was struggling.
From Golf Digest ● Jul. 8, 2019
At his office, Tomlin talked me through part of his reading of the London I.O.U., drawing, as if unconsciously, on a scrap of paper as he did so.
From The New Yorker ● May 1, 2017
The boys closed at eighty cents and gave him an I.O.U. which he probably still has.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
