Dictionary

hypothecation en · NOUN

Etymology

From hypothecate + -ion. From Latin hypothecatio, from hypotheco (“to pledge as collateral”), from Greek.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The use of property, or an existing mortgage, as security for a loan, etc.
   • After the deperdition of Indagator, having an appetency still further to pervstigate the frithy occident; being still an agamist, and not wishing to be any longer a pedaneous viator, nor to be solivagant, I brought about the emption of a yaud, partly by numismatic mutuation, and partly by a hypothecation of my fusee and argental horologe. 1856, Samuel Klinefelter Hoshour, Letters to Squire Pedant, in the East, page 28:
2. (UK, countable, uncountable) A tax levied for a specific expenditure.
   • Either way, effectively the government is simply using the hypothecated tax as part of general revenue, and the hypothecation is a sham. 2006, Julian Le Grand, Motivation, Agency, and Public Policy, →ISBN, page 155:
   • Local authorities have linked the scheme to broader climate ambitions. Indeed, some of the funding for the stations has come from hypothecation of monies received through Birmingham's Clean Air Zone charges. 2025 October 1, Peter Plisner, “Closing in on Camp Hill reopening”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 46:
   • It is, however, precisely here that the weakness of hypothecation lies, for governments are not likely readily to surrender control over the disposition of taxes they impose. 1984, John R. Butler, Michael S. B. Vaile, Health and Health Services: An Introduction to Health Care in Britain, →ISBN, page 68:
   • So, strict hypothecation is only advisable when the tax pays entirely and only for that spending programme […] 2006, Dominic Maxwell, “Towards a citizen's inheritance”, in The Citizen's Stake, →ISBN, page 49:

Forms

Deriveds

rehypothecation

Relateds

secured loan · in hock · securitization · secured debt · hypothecate

Translations (8)

is veðsetning (the use of property as security for a loan) · uk гіпотезу (the use of property as security for a loan) · fi takaus (the use of property as security for a loan) · ko 담보 (the use of property as security for a loan) · el υποθήκευση (the use of property as security for a loan) · de Verpfändung (the use of property as security for a loan) · fi vakuusjärjestely (the use of property as security for a loan) · fi panttaus (the use of property as security for a loan)