English Reference
adjective

quits

adj.
US /ˈkwɪts/ UK /kwˈɪts/ quits

  1. 01 B2 Upper Intermediate Informal

    you use this when you and another person no longer owe each other money or favors.

    on equal terms; having settled a debt, obligation, or score so that neither party owes the other.

    Simple

    I'll pay for the coffee and then we'll be quits for the movie ticket.

    In context

    After he returned the borrowed tools and helped me fix the fence, I told him we were finally quits.

    Usage

    Used almost exclusively as a predicative adjective after the verb 'to be'.

He actually retired because Hughes, his manager, was retiring and he thought it was a good time to call it quits and spend more time with Trish and have a social life.

The Guardian· 24 Aug 2026

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Frequent
Updated