USURIOUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does usurious mean? 

• USURIOUS (adjective)
  The adjective USURIOUS has 1 sense:

1. greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation

  Familiarity information: USURIOUS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• USURIOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation

Synonyms:

exorbitant; extortionate; outrageous; steep; unconscionable; usurious

Context example:

unconscionable spending

Similar:

immoderate (beyond reasonable limits)

Derivation:

usury (an exorbitant or unlawful rate of interest)

 Context examples 

Every debt he owed in the world, including the pawnshop, with its usurious interest, amounted to less than a hundred dollars.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

As to her money, she first secreted it in odd corners, wrapped in a rag or an old curl-paper; but some of these hoards having been discovered by the housemaid, Eliza, fearful of one day losing her valued treasure, consented to intrust it to her mother, at a usurious rate of interest—fifty or sixty per cent.; which interest she exacted every quarter, keeping her accounts in a little book with anxious accuracy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)