loan shark
Americannoun
noun
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.
By charging fees that would make a loan shark blush.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 15, 2025
It said less than 40% of people borrowing from illegal money lenders had received debt advice and about a third of those seeking advice had not told an adviser they owed a loan shark money.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 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
It also doesn’t help that Rahim has a slippery past relationship with the truth: He omitted the fact that his original debt was to a loan shark, not a bank.
From Washington Post • Jan. 5, 2022
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
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
