mortgage
Americannoun
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mortgages
plural
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a conveyance of an interest in real property as security for the repayment of money borrowed to buy the property; a lien or claim on property such that the lender can take possession if the loan is not repaid.
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the deed by which such a transaction is effected.
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the rights conferred by such a transaction, or the state of the property conveyed: I own a house under mortgage.
The bank holds a mortgage on his farm.
I own a house under mortgage.
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the total loan obtained or the periodic installment to be paid under such a transaction.
They took out a $500,000 mortgage.
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the obligation to repay such a loan; the debt incurred.
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an advance obligation or pledge, usually involving some risk.
Without good maternity care, some babies will be born with a long-term mortgage on their future health.
verb (used with object)
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mortgages,
present (3rd person singular)
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mortgaged,
past participle, past
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mortgaging
present participle
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to convey or place (real property) under a mortgage.
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to place under advance obligation; to pledge, usually taking on some risk.
to mortgage one's life to the defense of democracy.
noun
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an agreement under which a person borrows money to buy property, esp a house, and the lender may take possession of the property if the borrower fails to repay the money
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the deed effecting such an agreement
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the loan obtained under such an agreement
a mortgage of £48 000
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a regular payment of money borrowed under such an agreement
a mortgage of £247 per month
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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submortgagenoun
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overmortgageverb
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remortgageverb (used with object)
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unmortgageverb (used with object)
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mortgageableadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mortgagesimple
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mortgagessimple
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have mortgagedperfect
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has mortgagedperfect
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am mortgagingprogressive
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are mortgagingprogressive
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is mortgagingprogressive
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have been mortgagingperfect progressive
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has been mortgagingperfect progressive
Past
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mortgagedsimple
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had mortgagedperfect
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was mortgagingprogressive
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were mortgagingprogressive
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had been mortgagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mortgage
First recorded in 1350–1400; earlier morgage, Middle English, from Old French mortgage, equivalent to mort “dead” (from Latin mortuus ) + gage “pledge”; see gage 1
Explanation
A mortgage is a loan in which the lender may use your property as payment if you don't pay back the loan. Offer your friend a mortgage for the $20 he wants...with his bike as security. Most people obtain a mortgage when they buy a house. The bank extends the loan because of the guarantee that the house will be the bank’s to sell if the debt isn’t repaid. When you make this deal, you have mortgaged your house — the word mortgage can be used as a noun or a verb.
Vocabulary lists containing mortgage
Richard Nixon's "Checkers" Speech (1952)
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Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - Introductory
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Dwight D. Eisenhower, "The Military-Industrial Complex" (1961)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
St. Louis renters typically find it easy to transition into homeownership, Helbig said, since the gap between renting and paying a mortgage isn’t that wide.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
Such moves can affect mortgage rates and car loans.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Thanks to the bond sell-off, mortgage rates are once again rising.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
“What can’t be ignored is the move in oil,” said Mike Lorizio, head of U.S. rates and mortgage trading at Manulife Investment Management.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
Ammunition to cause trouble had just arrived a few months earlier from Moody’s: The rating agency now possessed, and offered for sale, all sorts of new information about subprime mortgage loans.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Interest rates on bonds - which are a type of debt - are known as yields and can directly affect the borrowing costs consumers pay on mortgages, car loans and credit cards.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Many of the mortgages defaulted, creating a foreclosure crisis that threatened to drag blocks back down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
When Bessent helped George Soros break the pound on “Black Wednesday” in 1992, he reckoned that the country’s floating-rate mortgages made it politically painful for Britain to raise interest rates to prop it up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.69% last week, the fifth consecutive week of increases, after averaging 6.43% at the start of July, according to Freddie Mac.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Those 2005 mortgages are only now reaching the end of their teaser rate periods, and it will be 2008 before the 2006 mortgages get there.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
A bit more examination reveals that Rory’s heavily mortgaged ancestral manse is ripe for foreclosure, so the shrewd Birdie and a few new acquaintances step in with an unorthodox plan to stop such proceedings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
After poor ticket sales, producers were reported to have mortgaged property to cover debts.
From Barron's ● Dec. 22, 2025
The couple mortgaged their Hollywood Hills home again and again to finance his films, she said, in an effort to remain independent from the tight reins of Hollywood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2024
To raise the money for the $100 million-plus production, he mortgaged his seaside Santa Barbara, California, estate.
From Seattle Times ● May 19, 2024
He told me that in Florida, creditors cannot take your home, and the Mosses had mortgaged most everything else they owned, probably to pay their bail bonds and legal fees.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Mid-cap players are mortgaging chunks of their businesses to get in on the action, too.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2025
But she stuck to her guns, mortgaging her house to finance the project — and it seems to have paid off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2024
The agreement reverses concessions the union agreed to in a series of contracts since 2007, when GM and the former Chrysler were skidding toward bankruptcy, and Ford was mortgaging assets to stay afloat.
From Reuters ● Oct. 26, 2023
A major part of the conversion effort is figuring out how to finance the sale in the first place — so workers aren’t mortgaging their houses to buy their own company.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 25, 2023
Almost immediately, the financial slide began, but was artificially buoyed by extravagant bank loans that Chacko raised by mortgaging the family’s rice fields around the Ayemenem House.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
