interest

From Wiktionary
interest is on the Basic English 850 List.
insurance - interest - invention
interest is one of the 1000 most common headwords.
insure - interest - into
Interest is on the Academic Vocabulary List.

Pronunciation[change]

Noun[change]

Singular
interest

Plural
interests

  1. (countable) When someone wants to know more about something or likes to do something, we say the person has an interest in it.
    She has a strong interest in art. She is going to go to an art school.
    What are your interests?
  2. (countable) When something is important to a person, or if good things happening to the thing are good for the person, we say that the person has an interest in the thing.
    Because I own a house on this street, I have an interest in keeping the street clean.
    I'm doing this to look after my own interests.
  3. (uncountable) When someone borrows money, they have to give back more money than they borrowed. The extra money they have to pay is called interest.
    The bank gives me two percent interest per year on the money in my account.

Verb[change]

Plain form
interest

Third-person singular
interests

Past tense
interested

Past participle
interested

Present participle
interesting

  1. If someone is interested, they are curious and want to find out about something.
    I am interested in researching flowers.
    Does maths interest you?

Related words[change]