loan shark

American

noun

Informal.

a person who lends money at excessively high rates of interest; usurer.

loan shark British

noun

informal a person who lends funds at illegal or exorbitant rates of interest

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of loan shark

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

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.

By charging fees that would make a loan shark blush.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 15, 2025

A clip of their shared cubicle scene — in which loan shark Kathy rags on Dreux’s low credit score — has captured more than 9.2 million views on Instagram since the film’s Jan. 17 release.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2025

Most people do not realise that they are borrowing from a loan shark to start with.

From BBC • Nov. 23, 2022

Only a loan shark would dream of risking a dime on Ryan, as Keith would instantly have known.

From New York Times • May 2, 2022

Again, they’d rather deal with us than with some gangster loan shark.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023