Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The practice of lending money and charging the borrower interest, especially at an exorbitant or illegally high rate.
- n. An excessive or illegally high rate of interest charged on borrowed money.
- n. Archaic Interest charged or paid on a loan.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Originally, any premium paid, or stipulated to be paid, for the use of money; interest. [Obsolete or archaic.]
- n. An excessive or inordinate premium paid, or stipulated to be paid, for the use of money borrowed; any such premium in excess of the rate established or permitted by law, which varies locally.
- n. The practice of lending money at interest, or of taking interest for money lent; specifically, and now almost exclusively, the practice of taking exorbitant or excessive interest; the taking of extortionate interest from the needy or extravagant.
Wiktionary
- n. countable An exorbitant rate of interest, in excess of any legal rates or at least immorally.
- n. uncountable The practice of lending money at such rates.
- n. uncountable, archaic The practice of lending money at interest.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Obs. or Archaic A premium or increase paid, or stipulated to be paid, for a loan, as of money; interest.
- n. obsolete The practice of taking interest.
- n. (Law) Interest in excess of a legal rate charged to a borrower for the use of money.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an exorbitant or unlawful rate of interest
- n. the act of lending money at an exorbitant rate of interest
Etymologies
- From Latin usuria, from usura "lending at interest, usury" from usus 'use', from stem of uti 'to use' (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Medieval Latin ūsūria, alteration of Latin ūsūra, from ūsus, use; see usual. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“From that time forward the term usury was restricted to excessive interest, and this alone was prohibited.”
An Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of England
“In the Old Testament stood various texts condemning usury -- the term usury meaning any taking of interest: the law of Moses, while it allowed usury in dealing with strangers, forbade it in dealing with Jews.”
A History of the warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom
“Watching the news today and they just had Ron Insana talking on msnbc about a report in the Wall Street Journal about how banks are now raising fees on everything and, with some banks now charging up to 29\% interest rates, he used the term usury rates.”
“The idea that usury is a crime runs deep in the human psyche, well back to biblical times and probably much longer.”
“Hence it is by its very nature unlawful to take payment for the use of money lent, which payment is known as usury; and just as a man is bound to restore other ill-gotten goods, so is he bound to restore the money which he has taken in usury.”
“In like manner he commits an injustice who lends wine or wheat and asks for double payment, viz. one, the return of the thing in equal measure, the other, the price of the use, which is called usury.”
“The writer maintains that perhaps because of his rural upbringing, Henry Ford developed a hatred for international banks and the big financial corporations of Wall Street because, to his mind, they dealt in usury, manipulated the stock market, controlled prices and were run mostly by Jews.”
“The word usury was very odious to the Christian mind and conscience.”
“This was the usage of the word usury by the great masters of the”
“The word usury, in our language, has a bad signification, meaning unlawful or exorbitant interest.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘usury’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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RELI - words you immediately associat...
almighty, altar, anoint, apostle, archangel, Balaam, baptism, advent, ark, baptist, baptize, begotten and 341 more...
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Words in which "u" is pronounced "yu"
cute, uniform, puny, municipal, butte, fume, perfume, puke, cucumber, huge, demure, cube and 95 more...
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GRE
droll, dyspeptic, ebullient, ardor, edify, efficacy, malinger, mannered, martinet, maudlin, mendacious, mendicant and 101 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1834 more...
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josholalia's list
ineluctable, glossolalia, agog, echolalia, minaret, pillory, usury, gimlet, carioca, sniveling, concave, convex and 15 more...
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GRE list #4
runic, sagacious, salacious, salient, salutary, sanctimony, sanguine, satiate, saturnine, seine, seminal, sidereal and 103 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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jeffreytwhitney's list
abecedarian, assonance, prolix, avuncular, baleful, borborygmus, accismus, atavism, catachresis, coruscant, callipygian, carbuncle and 117 more...
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jaradgiese's Words
paronomasia, ostensible, insouciant, sobriquet, burlesque, insalubrious, apotheosis, hyperbole, connubial, felicity, florid, conurbation and 642 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for usury.
singlepayernow i applied online for a segway loan and got a an interest rate of 21.99% from GE! that's usurious! actually, the entire capitalistic economy and society is usurious! we live in an inane world! ahhhhhh!!!!!! chaos theory now! anarchy! Dec 16, 2007