How to Use loan shark in a Sentence

loan shark

noun
  • When times get tough, Levi asks for help from a ruthless loan shark.
    — Kirby Adams, The Courier-Journal, 27 Dec. 2022
  • Woo plays a promising boxer whose mother is in debt to a loan shark.
    — Joan MacDonald, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2022
  • The twins learn that their grandpa is being hunted by a loan shark.
    — Shelby Stewart, Essence, 22 Dec. 2023
  • Word on the street was that the owner got in over his head to a local loan shark and fled town.
    — Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2019
  • Three Irish wiseguys, looking to go on their own as loan sharks, need cash to get started.
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2019
  • Uncut Gems is a plunge into a gritty city of grifters and loan sharks.
    — Kyle Smith, National Review, 11 Dec. 2019
  • Finally, the loan shark took it from Beom-jun and gave it to Jeong-min.
    — Kayti Burt, Time, 4 Apr. 2025
  • Nate was being held hostage by loan sharks, who gave Cassie three days to come up with the money to save him.
    — Monica Mercuri, Forbes.com, 31 May 2026
  • Black people were blocked from the banking system whites take for granted, and forced to turn to payday loan sharks.
    — John Archibald | [email protected], al, 29 May 2020
  • What kind of predatory loan shark of a dealer—25 percent every day?
    — Anne Branigin, The Root, 6 Feb. 2018
  • Elisha Cuthbert co-stars as his wife and Mel Gibson is a shady loan shark.
    — Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 22 Sep. 2022
  • Predatory lenders and loan sharks offer merchant cash advances.
    — Scott Horsley, NPR, 9 Feb. 2026
  • His father was a factory worker and a barber, as well as a bootlegger and loan shark.
    — Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 2 Apr. 2026
  • We’re then introduced to Louie, a thug who works for a loan shark, threatening and killing people.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 Sep. 2025
  • Based on a Naver webtoon of the same name, this action thriller revolves around two young boxers who enter the world of loan sharks.
    — Time, 14 June 2023
  • Advertisement Seong-sin is a rich loan shark who is dying of kidney failure.
    — Kayti Burt, Time, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Only a loan shark would dream of risking a dime on Ryan, as Keith would instantly have known.
    — New York Times, 2 May 2022
  • Mok Ga-hui is presumed dead in 2018, and the loan sharks and police stop looking for her.
    — Kayti Burt, Time, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Recently, one of my patients borrowed money from a loan shark just to get a private taxi to the hospital.
    — Zolelwa Sifumba, Scientific American, 4 Sep. 2020
  • If banks don’t step in, loan sharks will Financial access is a regional problem.
    — Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 13 Jan. 2026
  • In the scene, Mike pushes Susan out of the way, taking a loan shark’s bullet and saving her life.
    — Rachel Flynn, People.com, 29 Dec. 2024
  • Uncle Sam isn't cutting taxes, just taking on a quirky role as a loan shark who fronts you the money but expects to get paid back soon.
    — Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 11 Sep. 2020
  • Bifield and the Angels were accused of acting as collection agents for Mafia loan sharks.
    — Edmund H. Mahony, courant.com, 8 Oct. 2019
  • Enslaved by a loan shark, a violent fighter escapes and meets a blind man who teaches him humanity.
    — Los Angeles Times, 22 Sep. 2019
  • In recent years, a series of reports emerged about loan sharks who forced female students to send nude selfies as collateral.
    — Jane Li, Quartz, 23 Sep. 2019
  • The owner of a popular barbershop considers selling the place to a loan shark who wants to convert it into a strip club.
    — Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2019
  • There have been whispers of loan sharks and mafia connections and Continent -wide arrest warrants.
    — Rory Smith, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2018
  • Then as now, people hunkered over the soil and used their hands, earning too little to feed their families, forcing many households to borrow from loan sharks.
    — Peter S. Goodman Jes Aznar, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2023
  • Despite starting off as opponents, the two end up working together in a quest to exact justice against rich and powerful loan sharks.
    — Time, 14 June 2023
  • Later, a loan shark named Sykes plots a kidnapping, which the animals dramatically try to foil.
    — Dewayne Bevil, orlandosentinel.com, 2 Oct. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'loan shark.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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