interest

American  

[in-ter-ist, -trist] / ˈɪn tər ɪst, -trɪst /

noun

• interests
  plural

1. 

   the feeling of a person whose attention, concern, or curiosity is particularly engaged by something.

   She has a great interest in the poetry of Donne.

2. something that concerns, involves, draws the attention of, or arouses the curiosity of a person.

   His interests are philosophy and chess.

3. power of exciting such concern, involvement, etc.; quality of being interesting.

   political issues of great interest.

4. concern; importance.

   a matter of primary interest.

5. a business, cause, or the like in which a person has a share, concern, responsibility, etc.

6. a share, right, or title in the ownership of property, in a commercial or financial undertaking, or the like.

   He bought half an interest in the store.

7. a participation in or concern for a cause, advantage, responsibility, etc.

8. a number or group of persons, or a party, financially interested in the same business, industry, or enterprise.

   the banking interest.

9. interests, the group of persons or organizations having extensive financial or business power.

10. the state of being affected by something in respect to advantage or detriment.

    We need an arbiter who is without interest in the outcome.

11. benefit; advantage.

    to have one's own interest in mind.

12. regard for one's own advantage or profit; self-interest.

    The partnership dissolved because of their conflicting interests.

13. influence from personal importance or capability; power of influencing the action of others.

14. Finance.

    1. a sum paid or charged for the use of money or for borrowing money.

       If I won the lottery, I would invest the money, quit working and live off the interest.

    2. interest rate.

15. something added or thrown in above an exact equivalent.

    Jones paid him back with a left hook and added a right uppercut for interest.

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verb (used with object)

• interests,
  present (3rd person singular)
• interested,
  past participle,  past
• interesting
  present participle

1. to engage or excite the attention or curiosity of.

   Mystery stories interested him greatly.

2. to concern (a person, nation, etc.) in something; involve.

   The fight for peace interests all nations.

3. to cause to take a personal concern or share; induce to participate.

   to interest a person in an enterprise.

4. to cause to be concerned; affect.

idioms

1. in the interest(s) of, to the advantage or advancement of; in behalf of.

   in the interests of good government.

interest British  

/ ˈɪntrɪst, -tərɪst /

noun

1. the sense of curiosity about or concern with something or someone

   an interest in butterflies

2. the power of stimulating such a sense

   to have great interest

3. the quality of such stimulation

4. something in which one is interested; a hobby or pursuit

5. (often plural) benefit; advantage

   in one's own interest

6. (often plural)

   1. a right, share, or claim, esp in a business or property

   2. the business, property, etc, in which a person has such concern

7. 1. a charge for the use of credit or borrowed money

   2. such a charge expressed as a percentage per time unit of the sum borrowed or used

8. (often plural) a section of a community, etc, whose members have common aims

   we must not offend the landed interest

9. to make known one's connection, esp a prejudicial connection, with an affair

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verb

1. to arouse or excite the curiosity or concern of

2. to cause to become involved in something; concern

interest Cultural  

1. The charge for borrowing money or the return for lending it.

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interest More Idioms  

1. see in one's interest; take an interest; vested interest; with interest.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overinterest
  noun
• preinterest
  noun
• reinterest
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• interests
  plural

Participles

• interesting
  present
• interested
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• interest
  simple
• interests
  simple
• have interested
  perfect
• has interested
  perfect
• am interesting
  progressive
• are interesting
  progressive
• is interesting
  progressive
• have been interesting
  perfect progressive
• has been interesting
  perfect progressive

Past

• interested
  simple
• had interested
  perfect
• was interesting
  progressive
• were interesting
  progressive
• had been interesting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will interest
  simple
• will have interested
  perfect
• will be interesting
  progressive
• will have been interesting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of interest

First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English noun interest, intrest, entrest “legal claim or right,” from Medieval Latin, Latin interest “it concerns,” literally, “it is between,” replacing the Medieval Latin infinitive interesse, used as a noun, from Latin; see inter-, esse

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Explanation

Interest is used most often to describe something you like, enjoy or think useful. You might have an interest in African literature, or you might follow the news with interest. Although interest is used mainly to describe anything that is, well, interesting, it also is used in specific legal contexts. If you have an interest in a company, it means you own part of it. Interest is also the word used to describe money charged or given as part of a debt. If a bank loans you $10,000, you have to pay back the $10,000 plus the interest. If the interest rate is 5 percent annually, you would owe $500.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

interest interests interested interesting

The White House said the waiver was in the national interest.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026

A spokeswoman for Khosla Ventures said the firm expects more than 1,000 applications for the role based on early interest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Both Chen and the university have an ownership interest in Diapin, which supplied DT-109 for the research and is continuing its development.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

For weeks, investors and Federal Reserve watchers had been expecting the central bank to hold interest rates steady when it meets later this month.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2026

He brings no traps, blasts no fire sticks, and doesn’t seem to have any interest in taking me from this cave.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

The tech mogul has significant business interests in the Lone Star State.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026

The two companies representing Prince's interests in the DRC, Vectus Global and Quantum Global Consulting, maintain a presence in the national capital Kinshasa, but their executives keep a low profile.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

The Sussex's representatives have stressed that they both have their own separate interests to focus on with plans for Meghan to launch a UK version of her lifestyle brand As Ever - possibly before Christmas.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

“And she also had performance, theatrical interests at the time.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

After this ten-minute conversation, Bobby said he was going to play “no matter what,” and that the interests of the United States were greater than his personal interests.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Researchers are interested in not only how Naidiri Village has protected their marine ecosystem, but also specific corals showing extraordinary heat resistance.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

But I was interested in the fact that he accumulated so much power, and so that was the basis on which I dug in back in 2022.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

“I’m really interested in not what it looks like to communicate with technology, but what it feels like,” Schatz said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Yet it's his impact coming on to the pitch we're interested in here.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

“Findings from the Snow White Project led to breakthroughs about reversing radiation damage to organs. The military was very interested and invested money.”

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

This is such an interesting commentary on what is visible to justices and what isn’t.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

But in an interesting twist, it has also featured a change in sentiment for this year’s best and worst performers.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

“Where even, contradicting ideas held together at the same time is often just interesting, at the very least, and then you can sort of finesse interesting into funny, at a certain point.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

What began as a technical workaround ultimately enabled the researchers to explore a more interesting version of the phenomenon, one in which matter and the field could participate together in the quantum dynamics.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

“You have an interesting way of seeing the world, Bat.”

From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold

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Related Words

• affect
• amuse
• appeal to
• attract
• concern
• engage
• engross
• entertain
• excite
• fascinate
• intrigue
• involve
• please
• tempt

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