usury

[yoo-zhuh-ree]

See more synonyms for usury on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural u·su·ries.

the lending or practice of lending money at an exorbitant interest.
an exorbitant amount or rate of interest, especially in excess of the legal rate.
Obsolete. interest paid for the use of money.

Origin of usury

1275–1325; Middle English usurie < Medieval Latin ūsūria (compare Latin ūsūra), equivalent to Latin ūs(us) (see use) + -ūr(a) -ure + -ia -y³

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for usury

exploitation, stealing

Examples from the Web for usury

Contemporary Examples of usury

On January 29, Francis referred to usury as “a dramatic social ill.”
12 Ways Catholicism is More Radical Than Pope Francis
Nathan Schneider
February 9, 2014
There's a reason for the biblical bans on usury: in a zero-growth world, lending money at interest is quite likely to ruin people.
Don't Have Enough to Worry About? Here's One More Thing: Low Growth May be Here to Stay.
Megan McArdle
March 4, 2013
Biblical and Islamic bans on "usury" (lending money at interest) strike most modern people as pretty silly.
Our Demographic Decline
Megan McArdle
December 4, 2012

Historical Examples of usury

You have been lending money on usury too, and on a bad security.
The Christian
Hall Caine
She wanted to pay him with usury for his cool, hard disdain.
The Highgrader
William MacLeod Raine
His words are to be taken literally; all that He promises He gives with usury.
Celebrated Travels and Travellers
Jules Verne
Thus we see that the divell is the planter, and the father of usury.
On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2)
John Ruskin
Those who have a home are relieved of the burden of usury by rent.
Usury
Calvin Elliott

British Dictionary definitions for usury

usury

noun plural -ries

the act or practice of loaning money at an exorbitant rate of interest
an exorbitant or unlawfully high amount or rate of interest
obsolete moneylending

Derived Formsusurious (juːˈʒʊərɪəs), adjective

Word Origin for usury

C14: from Medieval Latin ūsūria, from Latin ūsūra usage, from ūsus use

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

Word Origin and History for usury

c.1300, from Medieval Latin usuria, from Latin usura "usury, interest," from usus, from stem of uti (see use (v.)). Originally the practice of lending money at interest, later, at excessive rates of interest.

usury in Culture

usury

[(yooh-zhuh-ree)]

The practice of charging more than the legal interest rate.