1. The practice of lending money at exorbitant rates of interest; usury or exploitative moneylending.
Usage: chiefly Irish and British; often used historically to describe predatory lending practices in rural communities

Examples

• The landlord's gombeenism left many tenants in perpetual debt.
• Local moneylenders engaged in gombeenism, charging interest rates that trapped borrowers for years.
• Gombeenism was a common practice among unscrupulous creditors in 19th-century Ireland.
• The novel depicted the harsh realities of gombeenism in rural communities.
• Laws were eventually passed to combat gombeenism and protect vulnerable borrowers.