debt of nature

9.9

A certain fact that every living person must die

noun
/dɛt əv ˈneɪtʃər/

Archaic

: deuda de la naturaleza

After a long illness, he finally paid the debt of nature.

Examples

It is said that kings and beggars alike must pay the debt of nature.
Everyone must pay their debt of nature eventually.
Writers throughout history have reflected on the debt of nature that all humans owe.
The debt of nature is something we cannot escape.
Every living creature must one day pay the debt of nature and face death.
It is universally acknowledged that everyone, regardless of status, will ultimately settle their debt of nature.
Philosophers often ponder the debt of nature as a fundamental aspect of existence.

Synonyms

mortality

vsdebt of nature

63 5.7

The fact that living things must die

uses obligation language and moral tone rather than neutral factual statement

the way of all flesh

vsdebt of nature

Literature

1 9.2

The death that comes to everyone

frames death as an unavoidable moral obligation instead of an idiomatic saying

Surface Forms

debt of nature singular

debts of nature plural

Morphology

debt + of + nature

The phrase combines 'debt' (an obligation) with 'nature' (the natural order), so it can be interpreted as an obligation owed to nature—which in context is used to mean death. This is a metaphorical extension rather than a literal composition, so the link to 'death' is partially inferable but relies on literary/cultural knowledge and is not fully predictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Debt of nature may come from a simple picture: debt is something you must pay and nature means the natural cycle of life, so the last payment everyone must make is 'to die'. That's why the phrase means 'to die'.