loan
(noun, verb)
past tense: loaned
LISTEN
"If you want to buy a car, we'll need a loan."
A loan is money given to someone temporarily. They need to pay interest (=an extra percentage of money) for its use.
- Samantha paid for college with an education loan.
- A house loan is called a mortgage.
A loan can be any item that is given temporarily with the understanding that it will be returned.
- Phil's friend did not return his basketball until Phil reminded him that it was a loan.
To loan is to make a loan of.
- It's raining. Can you loan me your umbrella?
- When the bank loans you money, you have to pay it back.
- The library loans books to residents of the city.
Don't confuse it with
lone: solitary or standing by itself. Example: “A lone flower was in her hair.”
Common uses
on loan: loaned for temporary use. Example: “When I visited the museum, my favorite painting wasn’t there; it was on loan to another museum.”
Related words
loaner: When you bring you car into the mechanic, they can sometimes loan you another car while your car is being repaired. The other car is called a loaner.
In pop culture
A payday loan is a loan, usually at a very high rate of interest, that you should pay back on payday. Here, John Oliver explains the dangers of payday loans.
There are other meanings of loan.
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