interest rate
Americannoun
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interest rates
plural
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Business. the amount that a lender charges a borrower for taking out a loan, for maintaining a balance on debt, etc.: typically expressed as an annual percentage of the loan balance.
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Banking. the amount earned on a savings, checking, or money market account, or on an investment, such as a certificate of deposit or bond: typically expressed as an annual percentage of the account balance or investment sum.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of interest rate
First recorded in 1885–90
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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.
The Bank of Canada last week raised its policy interest rate a quarter percentage point, the first increase since July 2023, amid worries about the outlook for inflation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
How much you receive depends on your investment, the interest rate and the payment schedule, as well as your age, your gender and whether the contract is a joint-and-survivor annuity.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
The Federal Reserve decided to stand pat this week, keeping its target for the federal-funds interest rate in a range of 3.75% to 4%.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
The high rate of expected price rises will concern BOE policymakers, who meet next week to set policy and are expected to raise their key interest rate to 4% from 3.75%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
The buyer of the second tranche—the second story of the skyscraper—took the next wave of prepayments and in exchange received the second highest interest rate, and so on.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
