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  

/ -tərɪst, ˈɪntrɪst /

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

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

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

After inflation surged, the Fed raised interest rates and began to shrink its balance sheet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

On Sunday, the likelihood is Gakpo - who has attracted interest from Spurs - will start down the left while Ngumoha will play on the right.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

Her interest in Greenland sharks began after reading a 2016 research paper by John Fleng Steffensen published in the journal Science.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

They can live on the interest from now on.

From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026

Where was that kind of interest two weeks ago?

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

Like a neighborhood bar or a bowling alley, the internet was a place you could reliably go to have fun and occasionally learn something from semi-strangers who shared your interests.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

He said he was enjoying what he was currently doing too much and did not want to have to give up control of his business interests to comply with official rules.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

When the interests of Silicon Valley diverged from those of the military and intelligence worlds, the connection withered.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

But she noted that Israel, which has created what it calls a security zone in southern Syria, has generally accepted Turkish interests in the north.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Vinny could not believe that Deutsche Bank would let this guy loose to run around and torpedo their market unless it served the narrow interests of Deutsche Bank.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

"Styria is really a wonderful place to be. You have mountains, you have lakes, if you're interested in wine you can go wine tasting... The quality of life is very good," he said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026

They weren’t really interested in doing anything that didn’t raise money.

From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026

Rhoda is less interested in Max’s disloyalty to Leonie than in the tales of Ana’s philandering, profligate father, a Maltese artist who raised her after her Italian mother died during childbirth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

"The second home market was never really interested in places like Brynteg, they were more interested in places like Benllech and Moelfre, which are closer to the coast."

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

He listens, is always interested, always there for me.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

But Paul Irving, the 74-year-old former chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, calls the 70s “a really interesting interstitial period that we haven’t talked about enough.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026

“It will be an interesting summer and fall,” Mark Amodei, who has represented the district for 15 years, wrote on social media after the June primary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

Internet users have proven they’ll make a habit of swinging by these fledgling new spaces — if the conversation is interesting enough.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

“And at the end of that presentation, I had people asking when they could buy it. That’s the interesting thing about AI,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

And it always had a more interesting effect.

From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry

Related Words

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