ar‧rears /əˈrɪəz $ əˈrɪrz/ noun [plural]
[Date: 1400-1500; Origin: arrear 'backward, behind' (14-18 centuries), from Old French arere, from Vulgar Latin ad retro 'to the back']

1. be in arrears if someone is in arrears, or if their payments are in arrears, they are late in paying something that they should pay regularly, such as rent:
Many people are in arrears with their rent.
be four weeks/three months etc in arrears
The rent money is two months in arrears.
fall/get into arrears (=become late with payments)

2. money that you owe someone because you have not made regular payments at the correct time:
We’ve got 3 months' arrears to pay.
rent/mortgage/tax arrears
He was ordered to pay rent arrears of £550.

3. paid in arrears British English if your salary is paid in arrears, it is paid at the end of the period you have worked:
a salary paid monthly in arrears

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

arrears
noun
ADJ. debt, mortgage, rent, tax
VERB + ARREARS fall into, get into, owe They fell into arrears with their rent. The government has agreed to pay all arrears owed to members of the armed forces.
accumulate The country had accumulated arrears of $80 million on loans of $400 million.
pay (off) struggling to pay off her mortgage arrears
recover The local authority must try to recover arrears of rent.
ARREARS + VERB amount to sth, total sth By this time the arrears amounted to £12,000.
PREP. in ~ She was six months in arrears with the mortgage. You will be paid monthly in arrears.
~ on There have been sharp increases in arrears on interest payments.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲