1
: a deed, a bond, money, or a piece of property held in trust by a third party to be turned over to the grantee only upon fulfillment of a condition
2
: a fund or deposit designed to serve as an escrow
see also in escrow
escrowed; escrowing; escrows
: to place in escrow
Examples of escrow in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico.com, 14 Jan. 2026
Your lender may also set up an escrow account to collect monthly payments toward your annual tax bill.
—Allison Palmer, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2026
Sixteen Ramos, USA Today, 19 Sep. 2025
However, some mortgage lenders may require borrowers to escrow additional C-PACE reserves, as it is treated like real estate tax and technically holds priority over the senior mortgage, although C-PACE cannot be accelerated like a traditional loan.
2.
—Can (jon) Tavsanoglu, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for escrow
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
The top 100 would have included even more NBA players, except their 2024-25 salaries were dinged by the league’s escrow system, which is used to ensure the proper revenue split as laid out in the collective bargaining agreement between players and the league.
—Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico.com, 14 Jan. 2026
Your lender may also set up an escrow account to collect monthly payments toward your annual tax bill.
—Allison Palmer, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2026
Verb
Its latest innovation, ESCROWPay™, automates escrow reconciliation and remittance.
—Sixteen Ramos, USA Today, 19 Sep. 2025
However, some mortgage lenders may require borrowers to escrow additional C-PACE reserves, as it is treated like real estate tax and technically holds priority over the senior mortgage, although C-PACE cannot be accelerated like a traditional loan.
2.
—Can (jon) Tavsanoglu, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for escrow
Cite this Entry
“Escrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/escrow. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
escrow
noun
es·crow
e-ˈskrō 
: something (as a deed or a sum of money) delivered by one person to another to be delivered by the second to a third party only upon the fulfillment of a condition
escrow
verb
Legal Definition
escrow
1 of 2 noun
es·crow
ˈes-ˌkrō
1
: an instrument and especially a deed or money or property held by a third party to be turned over to the grantee and become effective only upon the fulfillment of some condition
2
: a fund or deposit designed to serve as an escrow
escrow
2 of 2 transitive verb
: to cause to be held as an escrow : place in escrow
Etymology
Noun
Anglo-French escroue deed delivered on condition, literally, scroll, strip of parchment, from Old French escroe
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
