Word.ws English Dictionary

sub-prime

sub-prime is the alternative spelling of subprime.

Meaning of subprime

Adjective

subprime (not comparable)

  1. Less than prime; inferior.
    • subprime beef
    Antonyms:
    superprime
  2. (US, now worldwide) Designating a loan (typically at a greater than usual rate of interest) offered to a borrower who is not qualified for other loans (for example, because of a poor credit history).
    • Central to the story was Steve Eisman, an eccentric and rebarbative hedge-funder who was one of the earliest to see through the subprime lies.2014 April 5, Alex Preston, “Flash Boys: Cracking the Money Code by Michael Lewis, review: Michael Lewis tells the compelling true story of one man’s mission to tame Wall Street [print version...
  3. (US, dated) Designating a type of commercial lending rate, less than the prime rate, offered to desirable borrowers.

See all 4 meanings of subprime

Questions about sub-prime

What is sub-prime the alternative spelling of?
Sub-prime is the alternative spelling of subprime.

Words near sub-prime in the dictionary

  1. sub-postmasters
  2. sub-postmistress
  3. sub-postmistresses
  4. sub-prefecture
  5. sub-prefectures
  6. sub-prime
  7. sub-problem
  8. sub-problems
  9. sub-project
  10. sub-province
  11. sub-provinces

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sub-prime (page history and authors); subprime (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: “sub-prime.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sub-prime. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.