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• equity
  equity

  noun

  the quality of being fair or impartial; fairness; impartiality.
• Equity
  Equity

  noun

  the actors' trade union

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equity

American  

[ek-wi-tee] / ˈɛk wɪ ti /

noun

• equities
  plural

1. the quality of being fair or impartial; fairness; impartiality.

   the equity of Solomon.

   Synonyms:

   justice, objectivity, justness, disinterest

   Antonyms:

   discrimination, bias, injustice, prejudice, partisanship, partiality, inequity

2. something that is fair and just.

   The concepts and principles of health equities and inequities are important to society as a whole.

3. the policy or practice of accounting for the differences in each individual’s starting point when pursuing a goal or achievement, and working to remove barriers to equal opportunity, as by providing support based on the unique needs of individual students or employees.

4. Law.

   1. Also called chancery. the application of the dictates of conscience or the principles of natural justice to the settlement of controversies.

   2. Also called chancery. a system of jurisprudence or a body of doctrines and rules developed in England and followed in the U.S., serving to supplement and remedy the limitations and the inflexibility of the common law.

   3. an equitable or legally valid right or claim.

   4. equity of redemption.

5. the monetary value of a property or business beyond any amounts owed on it in mortgages, claims, liens, etc..

   Over the years, they have carefully avoided tapping into their home equity for unnecessary expenses.

6. Informal. ownership, especially when considered as the right to share in future profits or appreciation in value.

7. the interest of the owner of common stock in a corporation.

8. (in a margin account) the excess of the market value of the securities over any indebtedness.

9. Equity. Actors' Equity Association.

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equity ¹ British  

/ ˈɛkwɪtɪ /

noun

1. the quality of being impartial or reasonable; fairness

2. an impartial or fair act, decision, etc

3. law a system of jurisprudence founded on principles of natural justice and fair conduct. It supplements the common law and mitigates its inflexibility, as by providing a remedy where none exists at law

4. law an equitable right or claim

   equity of redemption

5. the interest of ordinary shareholders in a company

6. the market value of a debtor's property in excess of all debts to which it is liable

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Equity ² British  

/ ˈɛkwɪtɪ /

noun

1. Full name: Actors' Equity Association. the actors' trade union

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equity ¹ Cultural  

1. In real estate, the financial value of someone's property over and above the amount the person owes on mortgages. For example, if you buy a house for $100,000, paying $20,000 down and borrowing $80,000, your equity in the house is $20,000. As you pay off the principal of the loan, your equity will rise.

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equity ² Cultural  

1. A body of rules or customs based on general principles of fair play rather than on common law or statutory law.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• equities
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of equity

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English equite, equitee, equyte, from Old French equité, from Latin aequitāt-, stem of aequitās “evenness, smoothness, fairness”; see equi-, -ty ²

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Explanation

Equity is the state or quality of being fair. In classrooms, it's important to establish equity as any hint of unfairness turns everyone against the teacher. In finance, equity refers to the value of a business or piece of property after subtracting the amount of the mortgage. Also in finance, equities are stocks, in contrast to bonds. Equity is from Middle English equite, from Old French équité, from Latin aequitas "equality," from aequus "equal."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

equity Equity equities

Hedge funds have already cut their equity exposure sharply, particularly in semiconductors, potentially reducing the pressure for more selling, Jules Rimmer reports.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

Blackstone’s net realizations fell 34% from a year prior, led by a 49% decline in its private equity division.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

It’s just the latest example of how the U.S. equity market has been fracturing into two camps.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

Investor will turn to whether the company’s establishment of a new nonvoting share class presages equity fundraising in 2027, the analyst adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

For as long as she could remember, her own mother had always been busy with some committee or other, advocating for more school funding, more equity, more fairness, and bringing her young daughter along.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Old models that focus on traditional financial engineering and rapid growth strategies are no longer sufficient, my colleague Laura Kreutzer reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

Equity general secretary Paul Fleming said cast members were "angry" at the proposals.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

Still, AMD will have to prove it can translate its research strength into broad adoption of its technology, according to Joe Tigay, a portfolio manager at Equity Armor Investments.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

Equity concerns drove some universities across the nation to eliminate standardized testing requirements for admission.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026

“Shorting Home Equity Mezzanine Tranches” was just a fancy way to describe Mike Burry’s idea of betting against U.S. home loans: buying credit default swaps on the crappiest triple-B slices of subprime mortgage bonds.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

That’s sparked investors to start “taking chips off the table, given where we are in the year,” and by rotating money out of equities and into Treasurys and fixed income more broadly, he said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

The reason you’re a little queasy about being 90%-plus in equities all of a sudden is because your risk tolerance naturally tends to shift as you age.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

Treasurys and German Bunds due to falls in equities and concerns about the sustainability of debt-funded AI investments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

A more typical progression is to ratchet down to about 70% equities and 30% in fixed-income products, and then go from there.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

Understanding the equities of righteous dealing between themselves as fellow citizens, they would be prepared to decide correctly on all questions of an international character, which might affect the interests of the world at large.

From Solaris Farm A Story of the Twentieth Century by Milan C. Edson

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