Word.ws English Dictionary

loanshark

loanshark is the alternative spelling of loan shark.

Meaning of loan shark

Noun

loan shark (plural loan sharks)

  1. Someone who lends money at exorbitant rates of interest, especially illegally.
    Synonyms:
    shylock

Verb

loanshark (third-person singular simple present loansharks, present participle loansharking, simple past and past participle loansharked)

  1. To commit usury (to loan money at an excessive rate of interest), especially if collecting under threat of violence.

Forms of loanshark

Noun
pluralloansharks
Verb
third-person singular presentloansharks
present participleloansharking
past participleloansharked
pastloansharked

Origin of loanshark

From loan + shark.

Questions about loanshark

What does loanshark mean?
Loanshark means to commit usury (to loan money at an excessive rate of interest), especially if collecting under threat of violence.
What is loanshark the alternative spelling of?
Loanshark is the alternative spelling of loan shark.
What part of speech is loanshark?
Loanshark is a verb.
What is the past tense of loanshark?
The past tense of loanshark is loansharked.

Words near loanshark in the dictionary

  1. loanland
  2. loanlands
  3. loanmonger
  4. loanmongers
  5. loans
  6. loanshark
  7. loansharked
  8. loansharking
  9. loansharks
  10. loanshift
  11. loanshifted

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: loanshark (page history and authors); loan shark (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “loanshark.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/loanshark. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.