Synonyms

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.

See Examples For:

loan shark

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

She said she trusted him "completely" but he turned out to be a loan shark.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2023

Because of these limits, banks kept interest rates between 6 and 12 percent and didn’t do much business with the poor, who in a pinch took their valuables to the pawnbroker or the loan shark.

From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2023

So she started loaning out money—a loan shark.

From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi

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