surcharge

Plural: surcharges

Noun

• an additional charge (as for items previously omitted or as a penalty for failure to exercise common caution or common skill)
• An addition of extra charge on the agreed, stated, or baseline price.
• 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.
• An excessive price charged e.g. to an unsuspecting customer.
• An overprint on a stamp that alters (usually raises) the original nominal value of the stamp; used especially in times of hyperinflation.
• A painting in lighter enamel over a darker one that serves as the ground.
• A charge that has been omitted from an account as payment of a credit to the charged party
• A penalty for failure to exercise common prudence and skill in the performance of a fiduciary's duties.
• An excessive load or burden.
• The putting, by a commoner, of more animals on the common than he is entitled to.

Verb

• charge an extra fee, as for a special service
• rip off; ask an unreasonable price
• fill to capacity with people
  • "The air raids had surcharged the emergency wards"
• print a new denomination on a stamp or a banknote
• fill to an excessive degree
  • "The air was surcharged with tension"
• place too much a load on
• show an omission in (an account) for which credit ought to have been given
• To apply a surcharge.
• To overload; to overburden.
• 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.
• To show an omission in (an account) for which credit ought to have been given.

Examples

• Our airline tickets cost twenty dollars more than we expected because we had to pay a fuel surcharge.
• to surcharge an animal or a ship; to surcharge a cannon

Synonyms

fleece, gazump, hook, overcharge, overload, pluck, plume, rob, soak

Antonyms

undercharge, discount

Related Words

supercharge, surcharged, surtax