surcharge
Americannoun
-
surcharges
plural
-
an additional charge, tax, or cost.
-
an excessive sum or price charged.
-
an additional or excessive load or burden.
-
Philately.
-
an overprint that alters or restates the face value or denomination of a stamp to which it has been applied.
-
a stamp bearing such an overprint.
-
-
act of surcharging.
verb (used with object)
-
surcharges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
surcharged,
past participle, past
-
surcharging
present participle
-
to subject to an additional or extra charge, tax, cost, etc. (for payment).
-
to overcharge for goods.
-
to show an omission in (an account) of something that operates as a charge against the accounting party; to omit a credit toward (an account).
-
Philately. to print a surcharge on (a stamp).
-
to put an additional or excessive burden upon.
noun
-
a charge in addition to the usual payment, tax, etc
-
an excessive sum charged, esp when unlawful
-
an extra and usually excessive burden or supply
-
law the act or an instance of surcharging
-
an overprint that alters the face value of a postage stamp
verb
-
to charge an additional sum, tax, etc
-
to overcharge (a person) for something
-
to put an extra physical burden upon; overload
-
to fill to excess; overwhelm
-
law to insert credits that have been omitted in (an account)
-
to overprint a surcharge on (a stamp)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
surchargesimple
-
surchargessimple
-
have surchargedperfect
-
has surchargedperfect
-
am surchargingprogressive
-
are surchargingprogressive
-
is surchargingprogressive
-
have been surchargingperfect progressive
-
has been surchargingperfect progressive
Past
-
surchargedsimple
-
had surchargedperfect
-
was surchargingprogressive
-
were surchargingprogressive
-
had been surchargingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of surcharge
1400–50; late Middle English surchargen (v.) < Old French surcharger. See sur- 1, charge
Explanation
A surcharge is an extra amount of money you have to pay when you buy something. If you purchase your concert tickets online instead of at the box office, you'll have to pay a five-dollar surcharge. Any added fee can be called a surcharge, whether it's the surcharge you pay for bringing an extra suitcase on an airplane or the surcharge a business pays every time a customer uses a credit card. As a verb, it means to charge someone an extra fee: "I'm changing banks because mine surcharges me every time I use my card at an ATM." In the 15th century, surcharge meant "overcharge" or "charge too much."
Vocabulary lists containing surcharge
Illegal
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for November 20–November 26, 2021
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
So here they are with taxable-equivalent yields for investors in the highest federal tax bracket, with the Medicare/ACA surcharge, for a combined 40.8%.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
The surcharge Virgin introduced added £50 to an economy class fare, £180 to premium and £360 to business class.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Starbucks has been winning back customers with changes that range from bringing back the condiment bar to getting rid of a surcharge for nondairy milk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Trucks also drive what are called “empty miles,” or miles driven between shipments, that are not covered by a surcharge.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
Shadow knew that the phone companies whacked a three-dollar surcharge on every call made from a prison phone.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
A California judge turned down a petition to halt surcharges home insurers have been levying policyholders statewide for costs related to the January 2025 wildfires in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
At LupinePet, which makes dog collars and leashes using materials sourced from around the world, costs have risen because of tariffs and fuel surcharges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
From next month, Australian card surcharges will end and interchange fee caps will be lowered to 30 basis points from 80 basis points.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
The recent price spikes, however, make it harder to manage fuel costs, even with the surcharges in place, as trucking companies might base any extra fees on prices that are no longer current.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
On top of that, probation officers in most states can require that an individual dedicate 35 percent of his or her income toward the payment of fines, fees, surcharges, and restitution charged by numerous agencies.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Homeowners would not be surcharged for commercial losses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2024
Of the 777 surcharged penalty notices issued for LEZ contraventions in July, 689 were for a second breach where the penalty rate was £120.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2023
“An innovative app or website or startup may never get off the ground because it could be surcharged to death, buried in search results or ripped off completely.”
From The Verge ● Jun. 13, 2022
While city leaders shrug their shoulders at trash-strewn encampments, Seattle homeowners can rest assured that any additional trash left outside the bin on collection day will be appropriately surcharged.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2021
In spite of his calm demeanor, calm voice, he was charged and surcharged with a will to action, a readiness to take and enjoy any desperate chance.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Other terms of this proposed settlement include more options for credit surcharging.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2025
The agreement would have created a little more flexibility for merchants that want to charge consumers extra when they pay by credit card, a practice known as surcharging.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
“The delay has helped, especially since the biggest publisher, Canada’s Transcontinental,” has offered to absorb the cost burden of the tariffs instead of surcharging its clients.
From Slate ● Mar. 8, 2025
"However, unless urgent action is taken to reduce the pressure on ATM operators by reversing the interchange fee reductions, NoteMachine will be forced to begin converting ATMs to surcharging," said chief executive Peter McNamara.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2019
A human cloud, surcharging itself with electric fire, lay swelling on the horizon of our little assembly; but I did not anticipate much danger from any storm that could break from such a quarter.
From Adela Cathcart, Volume 2 by George MacDonald
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.
