Subprime

//ˈsʌb.pɹaɪm// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A subprime loan.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Less than prime; inferior. not-comparable

    "subprime beef"

  2. 2
    Designating a loan (typically at a greater than usual rate of interest) offered to a borrower who is not qualified for other loans (for example, because of a poor credit history). US, not-comparable

    "Central to the story was Steve Eisman, an eccentric and rebarbative hedge-funder who was one of the earliest to see through the subprime lies."

  3. 3
    Designating a type of commercial lending rate, less than the prime rate, offered to desirable borrowers. US, dated, not-comparable

Example

More examples

"Central to the story was Steve Eisman, an eccentric and rebarbative hedge-funder who was one of the earliest to see through the subprime lies."

Etymology

From sub- + prime.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.