# mortgage

/ˈmɔɹɡədʒ/ (US) · /mˈɔːɡɪdʒ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/mortgage
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. home loan

noun · CEFR B2

a long-term loan from a bank used to buy a house or land.

For teachers: a legal agreement by which a bank or similar organisation lends money at interest in exchange for taking title of the debtor's property.

- They took out a thirty-year mortgage to buy their first apartment in the city.
- The couple spent months comparing interest rates before committing to a fixed-rate mortgage that offered long-term financial stability.

### 2. to pledge property

verb · CEFR B2

to use your house as a guarantee to borrow money from a bank.

For teachers: to convey a property to a creditor as security for a loan. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the asset being pledged.

- He had to mortgage his house to get the money to start his new business.
- The entrepreneur decided to mortgage the family estate to secure the necessary capital for her ambitious tech startup.

### 3. to risk the future

verb · CEFR C1 · Literary

to give up something important in the future to get what you want right now.

For teachers: to compromise or risk a future asset or state for the sake of an immediate advantage. Often used in political or environmental contexts.

- The government was accused of mortgaging the country's future for a short-term economic boost.
- Critics argued that the administration was mortgaging the health of future generations by ignoring urgent environmental regulations in favour of industrial growth.

## Examples

- They took out a thirty-year mortgage to buy their first home.
- Rising interest rates have made it much more expensive for young couples to afford their monthly mortgage payments.
- The financial crisis was largely precipitated by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, where high-risk loans were bundled into complex securities and sold to unsuspecting investors.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.