Meaning & use
loan shark
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Meaning
nouncountableinformaldisapproving
A person who lends money at unfairly high interest and often threatens borrowers who fall behind on payments.
Grammar: Countable: a loan shark; loan sharks prey on desperate people.
Patterns
- borrow from a loan shark
- owe a loan shark
Desperate for cash, he borrowed from a loan shark and soon owed twice the original sum.
Police arrested a loan shark who had threatened several families.
The charity warns people not to turn to a loan shark when bills pile up.
Word forms
| plural | loan sharks |
|---|
Common combinations
- borrow from a loan shark
- Never borrow from a loan shark.
- illegal loan shark
- An illegal loan shark charged huge fees.
- owe a loan shark
- He owed a loan shark a large sum.
- victim of a loan shark
- He became the victim of a loan shark after losing his job.
- crack down on loan sharks
- The government promised to crack down on loan sharks.
Synonyms and how they differ
- moneylender
- A moneylender may be fully legal and licensed, whereas a loan shark charges unfair rates and often breaks the law.
- usurer
- Usurer is a formal, old-fashioned word for someone who charges excessive interest, while loan shark suggests threats too.
- lender
- Lender is neutral and can describe a bank, but loan shark is negative.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: loan shark or credit union?
loan shark vs credit union
A credit union is a legitimate, regulated non-profit lender, which is the opposite of a loan shark.
Practice
Why do advisers warn people against using a loan shark?
Choose one answer.
A loan shark charges extreme interest and may threaten borrowers. The other options describe something completely different.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “loan shark”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.