MEANING
To be responsible for fulfilling an obligation, especially paying money that is owed.
Use it for
describing who must pay a debt; identifying responsibility for an outstanding obligation; showing someone unable to escape a financial commitment; distinguishing liability from simply being blamedEmphasizes an obligation or financial liability that someone must meet, not merely social criticism. Writing functions: Responsibility / Liability. Semantic categories (by meaning): Responsibility / Liability. Contexts: General conversation; Creative prose.
Words that belong together
- be on the hook for payment
- remain on the hook to do something
On the page
Signing the guarantee put her on the hook for the unpaid rent.
The supplier remains on the hook to replace the damaged equipment.
Word forms
- Base
- be on the hook
Usage notes
Predicate idiom: be on the hook for something or to do something. Inflect be naturally: is/was/has been on the hook; hook stays singular. Register: informal. Commonness: moderately common; especially American English (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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