surcharge
/ˈsɜɹt͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.12 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An addition of extra charge on the agreed, stated, or baseline price. Sometimes portrayed by a buyer as excessive and rapacious; usually portrayed by a seller as justified and necessary.
noun
The part of the price of a subsidized good or service that is not covered by the subsidy and so must be paid by the consumer.
noun
An overprint on a stamp that alters (usually raises) the original nominal value of the stamp; used especially in times of hyperinflation.
Example Sentences
- "Our airline tickets cost twenty dollars more than we expected because we had to pay a fuel surcharge."
- "A Numerous Nobility, cauſet Pouerty, and Inconuenience in a State: For it is a Surcharge of Expence;"
- "to surcharge an animal or a ship; to surcharge a cannon"
- "My heauy hart I feare will breake in twaine, Surcharged with a heauie loade of thoughts."
- "Your head reclin’d, (as hiding grief from view,) / Droops, like a Roſe ſurcharg’d with morning Dew."
- "The threat was soon fulfilled; the evening came on, prematurely darkened by clouds that seemed surcharged with a deluge."
Etymology
From Middle French surcharge, from Old French. By surface analysis, sur- + charge. Piecewise doublet of supercharge.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɜɹt͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒ/
- British English: /ˈsɜːt͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/