surcharge
Americannoun
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surcharges
plural
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an additional charge, tax, or cost.
-
an excessive sum or price charged.
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an additional or excessive load or burden.
-
Philately.
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an overprint that alters or restates the face value or denomination of a stamp to which it has been applied.
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a stamp bearing such an overprint.
-
-
act of surcharging.
verb (used with object)
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surcharges,
present (3rd person singular)
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surcharged,
past participle, past
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surcharging
present participle
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to subject to an additional or extra charge, tax, cost, etc. (for payment).
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to overcharge for goods.
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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).
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Philately. to print a surcharge on (a stamp).
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to put an additional or excessive burden upon.
noun
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a charge in addition to the usual payment, tax, etc
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an excessive sum charged, esp when unlawful
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an extra and usually excessive burden or supply
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law the act or an instance of surcharging
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an overprint that alters the face value of a postage stamp
verb
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to charge an additional sum, tax, etc
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to overcharge (a person) for something
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to put an extra physical burden upon; overload
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to fill to excess; overwhelm
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law to insert credits that have been omitted in (an account)
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to overprint a surcharge on (a stamp)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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surchargesimple
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surchargessimple
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have surchargedperfect
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has surchargedperfect
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am surchargingprogressive
-
are surchargingprogressive
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is surchargingprogressive
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have been surchargingperfect progressive
-
has been surchargingperfect progressive
Past
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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
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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:
Smaller carriers also lack the bargaining leverage of major fleets to demand full surcharge protections from shippers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
The “slop bowl” became internet shorthand for the familiar fast-casual mash-up — grains, greens, globally inspired protein, sauce, perhaps an avocado surcharge — assembled with the logic of a cafeteria line and an over-$10 price.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026
Even the Postal Service added a fuel and transportation surcharge on parcels for the first time earlier this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
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
I’d planned to buy my ticket at the window, but there isn’t time; I’ll have to buy it on the train and pay the surcharge.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
He’s also paying steeper fuel surcharges for services like crop dusting.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Those using leased carriers or independent trucks, which add their own fuel surcharges, are trying to get as close to a truckload as they can or limit smaller orders, she added.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
However, the risk of Tenaga bearing additional costs through lower fuel-adjustment surcharges next year is likely low, he reckons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Customers of the freight railroads have also seen higher fuel surcharges this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 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
More merchants, especially small businesses, in recent years have begun passing on the interchange fees they incur to consumers by surcharging them when they pay with credit cards.
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
As for more money, he suggested surcharging passengers for their trips through tunnels, capturing revenue from commercial development around stations and allowing the authority to issue revenue bonds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2018
The perfume of the flowers, heavily surcharging the dewless air, seemed to awaken and impress her.
From In the Valley by Harold Frederic
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.
