negative balance
1
4.8
- noun
- /ˈnɛɡətɪv ˈbæləns/
:
saldo negativo
- If you have a negative balance in your account, you will have to pay extra fees.
Examples
-
Advanced economies are the ones running up the negative balances; emerging market economies account for 17% of global debt now and will account for 14% in 2016.
Academic text (2012) -
The Campaign Finance Board's database currently shows Stewart's campaign with a negative balance of roughly $30,000.
Blog text (9) -
My bank gives you 30 days to carry a negative balance, and then the account is closed.
Blog text (13) -
The negative balance of payment implications of declining terms of trade for small nations are obvious.
Academic text (1991) -
It has to be active with no negative balance.
Blog text (22) -
Example 1: "If you have spent money you don't have (-5) and paid off part of it (+3), you still have a negative balance (-2) as a debt, or (-5) + 3 = (-2)."
Blog text (2) -
It was kind of shocking to come up with a rather negative balance; she smiled apologetically.
Fiction book (1993) -
If there were no debts owed in our money system (money put into the system and then paid back), there wouldn't be any "money," but because there is interest attached, we will always have a negative balance by always having to borrow to pay the interest that is attached to every dollar borrowed.
Blog text (21) -
John realized he had a negative balance after checking his bank statement for the month.
-
She was shocked to discover a negative balance due to her recent spending habits.
Synonyms
11
4.7
A negative bank balance when you withdraw more money than you have
An amount that shows an account owes money because more money was taken out than put in
Antonyms
How Overdrawn
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the parts: 'negative' = less than zero and 'balance' = amount in an account, so a learner can infer a balance below zero meaning the account holder owes money. This is a regular compositional numeric/financial phrase found across languages, making it immediately comprehensible to B1 learners who know the constituents.
Etymology
Negative balance comes from a simple picture: a balance is the amount in your account and negative means below zero, like a minus sign on a bank statement. So a negative balance means you 'owe' money because the account has less than zero.