debt ceiling vs debt

debt ceiling and debt both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
debt ceiling	Yes	No	No	No
debt	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, debt is a hypernym of debt ceiling; that is, debt is a word with a broader meaning than debt ceiling:

debt ceiling (noun)	debt (noun)
the maximum borrowing power of a governmental entity	an obligation to pay or do something
	money or goods or services owed by one person to another
	the state of owing something (especially money)