usury

American  

[yoo-zhuh-ree] / ˈju ʒə ri /

noun

• usuries
  plural

1. the lending or practice of lending money at an exorbitant interest.

2. an exorbitant amount or rate of interest, especially in excess of the legal rate.

3. Obsolete. interest paid for the use of money.

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usury British  

/ ˈjuːʒərɪ, juːˈʒʊərɪəs /

noun

1. the act or practice of loaning money at an exorbitant rate of interest

2. an exorbitant or unlawfully high amount or rate of interest

3. obsolete moneylending

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usury Cultural  

1. The practice of charging more than the legal interest rate.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• usurious
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• usuries
  plural

Etymology

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 -y ³

Explanation

Usury means lending money at exorbitant interest rates. Some people think that credit card companies charging annual interest rates of 29% are guilty of usury. A good way to remember the meaning of usury is that you can hear the word use in there. Think of charging too much interest as a way of "using" someone. The sad thing about high interest is that it's always the people who can least afford it who are charged rates so high that it amounts to usury. In the old days, if someone was found guilty of usury, they'd be severely punished.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

usury usuries

The not-quite-pure free-markets man supported usury laws to set a maximum rate of interest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Gabriel Solano, leader of the Workers' Party, filed a criminal complaint last week against Marcos Galperin, CEO of Mercado Libre, for usury.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

That’s why your credit card may be “issued” by a bank subsidiary in Utah, South Dakota or Delaware, which have lax usury limits.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2026

Other pages on his site appear to criticise "fiat money" - commonly used currencies as opposed to gold and digital tokens like Bitcoin - and usury, the charging of interest on loans.

From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2023

I reckon he thinks they’d get him on the usury law if he netted more than eight percent.

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Their usuries, which had hitherto been counted dishonest gain, were henceforth to be honorable, and they esteemed as patriots.

From Usury A Scriptural, Ethical and Economic View by Calvin Elliott

That these are spiritual bonds and yokes, that are here commanded to be loosed and broken; or if any external be meant, they are only the yokes, of their exactions and usuries.

From A Hind Let Loose Or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland for the Interest of Christ. With the True State Thereof in All Its Periods by Alexander Shields

Merchants and dealers, shorn of their usual accommodations, are compelled to borrow at ruinous usuries, or to fail to meet their payments.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 01, November, 1857 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

He had heard that she complained of his usuries, that he had taken advantage of her misfortunes, that he was a hard and cruel man.

From The Brass Bound Box by Diantha W. Horne