What does usurious mean?
Usurious describes interest, lending, or financial dealings that demand excessive or exploitative payment. In its central sense, it refers especially to interest charged at a rate that exceeds what the law permits or what ethical business practice allows, making “usurious interest” the word’s most familiar expression. The adjective can also characterize unusually large or exploitative gains, as in references to usurious profits or practices. Its force is strongly negative: it presents an arrangement not merely as expensive but as unfair, excessive, or predatory. Usurious is common in legal, economic, political, and journalistic prose, though it is less neutral than terms such as expensive or excessive. Etymologically, it belongs to the family of usury, which derives from the Latin word for interest or the use of money. The term is therefore especially useful when an accusation of financial exploitation is intended rather than a neutral description of a high rate.
adjectiveCharging interest at an excessive or unlawful rate. More broadly, characterized by excessive, exploitative gain.
- Charging interest at an excessive or unlawful rate.
- Characterized by excessive or exploitative profit or gain.
"The borrower complained that the lender was charging usurious interest."
"The lender was accused of charging usurious interest on the emergency loan."
"The campaign was condemned for its usurious appeals to corporate donors."
Usurious turns the innocent idea of interest—money paid for the use of money—into an accusation of exploitation.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does usurious come from?
Usurious entered English in the early 17th century from Medieval Latin usuriosus, meaning “usurious” or “exorbitant.” It developed from Latin usura, meaning “interest” or “the use of money,” which was associated with usare, “to use.” The same Latin foundation produced words such as usury and usurer, in which the idea of financial interest becomes the practice of charging excessive interest.
Related word forms
How usurious is actually used
The word is formal and strongly condemnatory. Its principal use concerns lending and interest rates, especially where a rate is excessive, exploitative, or unlawful; figurative uses retain the moral judgment conveyed by its financial sense.
Easily confused with usurious
Usurious is an adjective describing excessive or exploitative interest, while usury is a noun for the practice of charging such interest.