irs
noun
Simple meaning
A contract to exchange the benefit of one interest rate with another.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
eyeahrehsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈaɪɑˈɹɛs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
finance
A contract to exchange the benefit of one interest rate with another. Often a fixed interest rate is exchanged for a variable rate so as to allow one party to remove an exposure to a variable rate for which they pay a premium on the fixed rate in order to compensate for this 'insurance'. The two rates can also be based on different currencies.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- General and technical use
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A contract to exchange the benefit of one interest rate with another. Often a fixed interest rate is exchanged for a variable rate so as to allow one party to remove an exposure to a variable rate for which they pay a premium on the fixed rate in order to compensate for this 'insurance'. The two rates can also be based on different currencies.
Used this way, irs is a specialist word with a mildly favourable edge. This is a financial use: it has a settled meaning in accounting and business, where precision matters more than colour.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Finance/economics
- Business/professional
- Law/legal
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.