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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

surcharge.

An addition of extra charge on the agreed, stated, or baseline price. Sometimes portrayed by a buyer as excessive and rapacious; usually portrayed by a seller as justified and necessary.

9 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsɜːt͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsɜɹt͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒ/General-American
  1. An addition of extra charge on the agreed, stated, or baseline price. Sometimes portrayed by a buyer as excessive and rapacious; usually portrayed by a seller as justified and necessary.

    Our airline tickets cost twenty dollars more than we expected because we had to pay a fuel surcharge.
  2. The part of the price of a subsidized good or service that is not covered by the subsidy and so must be paid by the consumer.

  3. An overprint on a stamp that alters (usually raises) the original nominal value of the stamp; used especially in times of hyperinflation.

  4. A painting in lighter enamel over a darker one that serves as the ground.

  5. A charge that has been omitted from an account as payment of a credit to the charged party

  6. A penalty for failure to exercise common prudence and skill in the performance of a fiduciary's duties.

  7. An excessive load or burden.

    obsolete
  8. The putting, by a commoner, of more animals on the common than he is entitled to.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle French surcharge, from Old French. By surface analysis, sur- + charge. Piecewise doublet of supercharge.

verb/ˈsɜːt͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsɜɹt͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒ/General-American
  1. To apply a surcharge.

  2. To overload; to overburden.

    to surcharge an animal or a ship; to surcharge a cannon
  3. To overstock; especially, to put more cattle into (e.g. a common) than one has a right to do, or more than the herbage will sustain.

  4. To show an omission in (an account) for which credit ought to have been given.

Where this word comes from

From Middle French surcharge, from Old French. By surface analysis, sur- + charge. Piecewise doublet of supercharge.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.