amortize
Americanverb (used with object)
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amortizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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amortized,
past participle, past
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amortizing
present participle
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Finance.
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to liquidate or extinguish (a mortgage, debt, or other obligation), especially by periodic payments to the creditor or to a sinking fund.
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to write off a cost of (an asset) gradually.
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Old English Law. to convey to a corporation or church group; alienate in mortmain.
verb
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finance to liquidate (a debt, mortgage, etc) by instalment payments or by periodic transfers to a sinking fund
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to write off (a wasting asset) by annual transfers to a sinking fund
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property law (formerly) to transfer (lands, etc) in mortmain
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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amortizesimple
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amortizessimple
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have amortizedperfect
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has amortizedperfect
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am amortizingprogressive
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are amortizingprogressive
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is amortizingprogressive
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have been amortizingperfect progressive
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has been amortizingperfect progressive
Past
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amortizedsimple
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had amortizedperfect
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was amortizingprogressive
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were amortizingprogressive
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had been amortizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of amortize
1375–1425; Middle English amortisen < Anglo-French, Old French amortiss-, long stem of amortir literally, to kill, die < Vulgar Latin *a ( d ) mortīre (derivative of Latin mors, stem mort- death, with ad- ad- ); -ize later replacing -is ( s )-, probably by association with Anglo-Latin a ( d ) mortizāre
Explanation
To amortize is to gradually pay off a debt. A bank will help you amortize a loan so that you can make a monthly payment until you've paid back the entire amount. A simple way to understand the verb amortize is "make monthly payments on a debt." More specifically, to amortize is to pay down the total amount of the loan a little bit at a time, rather than only covering fees or interest on top of the loan amount. Someone whose bank amortizes their car loan makes a payment each month, gradually reducing the total amount they owe. Amortize stems from a Vulgar Latin word meaning "extinguish."
Vocabulary lists containing amortize
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:
I adjust that weird waist-belt with the strong black clips to amortize the load, and I carry it through my day, through my life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
Warner’s $252-million quarterly loss was a byproduct of a $1.3 billion write-down as Warner continues to amortize restructuring charges stemming from the 2022 merger with Zaslav’s Discovery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
And Musk’s 2018 pay award was valued at about $56 billion, or $8 billion a year, if investors amortize it over seven years.
From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025
"The concessionaire is getting another 35 years to manage that railway, thus he also has another 35 years to amortize the unamortized assets. So why is he deducting that sum from the concession payment?"
From Reuters ● Nov. 13, 2023
This weakened their balance sheets considerably and the government reneged on its promises to allow them to amortize the goodwill element of the purchase over 40 years.
From Crime and Corruption by Samuel Vaknin
Importantly, an installment loan "amortizes" – that is, part of each payment reduces the amount owed.
From US News ● Jun. 1, 2016
We have a library we can draw on that amortizes the cost that makes it worthwhile.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2015
The effect is similar to how a mortgage amortizes: The portion of each payment that goes toward interest is at its highest the first month and decreases with each payment.
From Salon ● May 13, 2013
The fund’s nonaccrual loans rose to 5.5% of total investments at amortized costs as of end-December, one of the highest among rated business-development companies, says Moody’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
Netflix, Warner, and Paramount amortized around $40 billion worth of content in the past 12 months, much of it on flops.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
It’s essentially the way hotels price, where any of their fixed costs are amortized across their nightly rate.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2023
In addition, variable-rate borrowers have been sheltered from higher interest rates after lenders temporarily extended the period over which their debt is amortized, keeping their payments the same.
From Reuters ● May 14, 2023
What we pay you will have to be amortized over a period of years.
From Damned If You Don't by H. R. van Dongen
The following comparison is for fixed-rate amortizing loans.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
The aim is to reduce monthly payments by amortizing the loan over a longer period.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
Even with low-interest loans and crop insurance payments, many farmers are turning to amortizing past debt, according to Joe Brannen with the Georgia Bankers Association.
From Fox News ● Feb. 27, 2019
The WGA contends the per-week income of writers is declining because studios are amortizing pay over longer production periods as shows become more cinematic and take longer to shoot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2017
It dispensed with all those bothersome little acts of daily courage; it offered hope and grace to the repetitive coward; it justified the past while amortizing the future.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
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.
