loan-sharking
noun
loan-shark·ing
ˈlōn-ˌshär-kiŋ 
: the practice of lending money at exorbitant rates of interest
Examples of loan-sharking in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
At a time when other states were moving to outlaw the practice and Missouri had yet to act, Sanders built one of Kansas City’s busiest operations, which experts claimed skirted loan-sharking laws by charging fees that a 1992 Kansas City Star article determined to be 384% annual interest.
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Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2025
Mob boss Vito Rizzuto had just returned from the U.S. after doing 10 years on racketeering, loan-sharking, and murder charges in connection with the gangland killings of three Bonnano crime family members in New York in 1981.
—Jesse Hyde, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025
More recently, the town was known for its robust trade in secondhand minibuses and as a center for loan-sharking.
—Gamze Yilmazel, Washington Post, 27 July 2023
Over the past 15 years, the commission with an annual budget of $14 million has helped bring down dozens of members of organized crime as well as union officials in the International Longshoremen’s Association on charges including loan-sharking, money-laundering and extortion.
—Jess Bravin, WSJ, 1 Mar. 2023
Meanwhile, the 1920s big shots commanded teams of killers and were engaged in a variety of underworld rackets, including bookmaking, loan-sharking, robbery, and extortion.
—Selwyn Raab, Foreign Affairs, 25 June 2012
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Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2025
Mob boss Vito Rizzuto had just returned from the U.S. after doing 10 years on racketeering, loan-sharking, and murder charges in connection with the gangland killings of three Bonnano crime family members in New York in 1981.
—Jesse Hyde, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025
More recently, the town was known for its robust trade in secondhand minibuses and as a center for loan-sharking.
—Gamze Yilmazel, Washington Post, 27 July 2023
Over the past 15 years, the commission with an annual budget of $14 million has helped bring down dozens of members of organized crime as well as union officials in the International Longshoremen’s Association on charges including loan-sharking, money-laundering and extortion.
—Jess Bravin, WSJ, 1 Mar. 2023
Meanwhile, the 1920s big shots commanded teams of killers and were engaged in a variety of underworld rackets, including bookmaking, loan-sharking, robbery, and extortion.
—Selwyn Raab, Foreign Affairs, 25 June 2012
Cite this Entry
“Loan-sharking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loan-sharking. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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