Interest

/ˈɪn.tɹɛst/ · noun

Meaning

(uncountable, finance) The price paid for obtaining, or price received for providing, money or goods in a credit transaction, calculated as a fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed..

Definitions by Sense

1. (uncountable, finance) The price paid for obtaining, or price received for providing, money or goods in a credit transaction, calculated as a fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed.
2. (uncountable, finance) Any excess over and above an exact equivalent
3. (uncountable) A great attention and concern from someone or something; intellectual curiosity.
4. (uncountable) Attention that is given to or received from someone or something.
5. (countable) An involvement, claim, right, share, stake in or link with a financial, business, or other undertaking or endeavor.
6. (countable) Something which, or someone whom, one is interested in.
7. (uncountable) Condition or quality of exciting concern or being of importance.
8. (obsolete, rare) Injury, or compensation for injury; damages.

Example Sentences

Our bank offers borrowers an annual interest of 5%.

You shall have your desires with interest

He has a lot of interest in vintage cars.

I have a lot of interest in doing online coding.

The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.

Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”

[…] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.

Over the past few years, however, interest has waxed again. A series of epidemiological studies, none big enough to be probative, but all pointing in the same direction, persuaded Emma Wilmot of the University of Leicester, in Britain, to carry out a meta-analysis. This is a technique that combines diverse studies in a statistically meaningful way.

Synonyms for interest

Antonyms for interest

Related Words

Word Forms

• interests
• enterest
• interess
• intherest
• interesting
• interested

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions