practicing usury; charging illegal or exorbitant rates of interest for the use of money
a usurious moneylender
2.
constituting or characterized by usury
usurious rates of interest
a usurious loan
Derived forms
usuriously
adverb
usuriousness
noun
Word origin
[1600–10; usury + -ous]This word is first recorded in the period 1600–10. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: cadet, dolly, operate, setup, syndicate-ous is a suffix forming adjectives that have the general sense “possessing, full of”a given quality (covetous; glorious; nervous; wondrous); -ous and its variant -ious have often been used to Anglicize Latin adjectives with terminations that cannotbe directly adapted into English (atrocious; contiguous; garrulous; obvious; stupendous). As an adjective-forming suffix of neutral value, it regularly Anglicizes Greekand Latin adjectives derived without suffix from nouns and verbs; many such formationsare productive combining forms in English, sometimes with a corresponding nominalcombining form that has no suffix (as -fer and -ferous; -phore and -phorous; -pter and -pterous; -vore and -vorous)
Examples of 'usurious' in a sentence
usurious
However, not all cards levy such usurious fees.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Maintenance grants should be restored for low-income students and the usurious interest rate charged on student loans reduced.
Times, Sunday Times (2018)
To identify our current economic arrangements as usurious is to understand just how anomalous they are.
The Times Literary Supplement (2017)
There are also opportunities in the lending of money to the indigent at usurious interest rates.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Even after the banks have applied their usurious premium to the base rate, borrowing remains a bargain.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
He offered consumer credit with considerable success, and without, he stressed, charging the usurious rates of some rivals.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The answer is to enter into a rent-to-loan contract, a borrowing agreement with interest rates of the usurious variety.