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• equity
  equity

  noun

  the quality of being fair or impartial; fairness; impartiality.
• Equity
  Equity

  noun

  the actors' trade union

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Who could offer professional advice to homeowners about equity?

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equity

American  

[ek-wi-tee] / ˈɛk wɪ ti /

noun

• equities
  plural

1. the quality of being fair or impartial; fairness; impartiality.

   the equity of Solomon.

   Synonyms:

   justice, objectivity, justness, disinterest

   Antonyms:

   discrimination, bias, injustice, prejudice, partisanship, partiality, inequity

2. something that is fair and just.

   The concepts and principles of health equities and inequities are important to society as a whole.

3. the policy or practice of accounting for the differences in each individual’s starting point when pursuing a goal or achievement, and working to remove barriers to equal opportunity, as by providing support based on the unique needs of individual students or employees.

4. Law.

   1. Also called chancery. the application of the dictates of conscience or the principles of natural justice to the settlement of controversies.

   2. Also called chancery. a system of jurisprudence or a body of doctrines and rules developed in England and followed in the U.S., serving to supplement and remedy the limitations and the inflexibility of the common law.

   3. an equitable or legally valid right or claim.

   4. equity of redemption.

5. the monetary value of a property or business beyond any amounts owed on it in mortgages, claims, liens, etc..

   Over the years, they have carefully avoided tapping into their home equity for unnecessary expenses.

6. Informal. ownership, especially when considered as the right to share in future profits or appreciation in value.

7. the interest of the owner of common stock in a corporation.

8. (in a margin account) the excess of the market value of the securities over any indebtedness.

9. Equity. Actors' Equity Association.

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equity ¹ British  

/ ˈɛkwɪtɪ /

noun

1. the quality of being impartial or reasonable; fairness

2. an impartial or fair act, decision, etc

3. law a system of jurisprudence founded on principles of natural justice and fair conduct. It supplements the common law and mitigates its inflexibility, as by providing a remedy where none exists at law

4. law an equitable right or claim

   equity of redemption

5. the interest of ordinary shareholders in a company

6. the market value of a debtor's property in excess of all debts to which it is liable

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Equity ² British  

/ ˈɛkwɪtɪ /

noun

1. Full name: Actors' Equity Association. the actors' trade union

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equity ¹ Cultural  

1. In real estate, the financial value of someone's property over and above the amount the person owes on mortgages. For example, if you buy a house for $100,000, paying $20,000 down and borrowing $80,000, your equity in the house is $20,000. As you pay off the principal of the loan, your equity will rise.

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equity ² Cultural  

1. A body of rules or customs based on general principles of fair play rather than on common law or statutory law.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• equities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of equity

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English equite, equitee, equyte, from Old French equité, from Latin aequitāt-, stem of aequitās “evenness, smoothness, fairness”; see equi-, -ty ²

Explanation

Equity is the state or quality of being fair. In classrooms, it's important to establish equity as any hint of unfairness turns everyone against the teacher. In finance, equity refers to the value of a business or piece of property after subtracting the amount of the mortgage. Also in finance, equities are stocks, in contrast to bonds. Equity is from Middle English equite, from Old French équité, from Latin aequitas "equality," from aequus "equal."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

equity Equity equities

“That’s why private equity likes this, because they can change the deal on the consumer,” Rybka said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

Capex can entail making strategic equity investments, expanding the ecosystem that drives demand for a company’s own products.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The current equity bull market will pass its four-year mark early next week.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

Microsoft, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet bundle debt and equity investments together on their cash-flow statements.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

It wasn’t enough to create a sustainable equity fund, but it was a start.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

American Equity, for instance, pays agents a commission of 5% to 7% of a policyholder’s deposit on some 10-year indexed annuities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

This article was produced as a project for the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2026 California Health Equity Fellowship.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

Equity investors may think credit spreads do not matter to them.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

Earlier this year, Alixpartners confirmed that investors in the Equity for Punks scheme would get no return on their shares.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

Lippmann, who was forever adding data to his presentation, produced his latest version of “Shorting Mezzanine Home Equity Tranches” and walked Fewings through his argument.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

European equities were set to perform in line with global peers after a period of underperformance, Bank of America said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

In the same way with equities, you won’t find less liquid, very small-cap companies in the mix.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

A widening gap between stock and bond volatility gauges suggests equities could be overlooking inflation, borrowing, and interest-rate risks.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

“Because management deploys capital into both public equities and owning entire businesses, analyst earnings estimates understate how cheap the company is.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

One of the strongest reasons for this is the fact that the churches have not recognized so clearly as they ought the equities of this conflict.

From The Long Day The Story of a New York Working Girl As Told by Herself by Dorothy Richardson

Related Words

• capital
• investment