# equity

Pronunciation: say "EK-wi-tee" /ˈɛkwɪti/

## Noun

1. Fairness, impartiality, or justice as judged by the principles of natural law or natural right.
   - Simple: Treating everyone fairly and justly, by the standard of what is naturally right.
   - _The judge was widely praised for the equity of her rulings._
   - _Critics questioned the equity of a tax that fell hardest on the poor._
2. The value of a piece of property once any liens or other encumbrances on it are subtracted.
   - Simple: What a property is worth after you subtract the debts and other claims against it.
   - _After ten years of payments, they had built up substantial equity in their home._
   - _The couple borrowed against the equity in their rental property to pay for the renovation._
3. Ownership in a business, especially when thought of in terms of its net monetary value.
   - Simple: Owning part or all of a business, especially what that part is worth in money.
   - _The founders gave up a third of their equity to attract outside investors._
   - _A pension fund took a 40 percent equity stake in the airline._
4. The ownership interest in a company, worked out by subtracting its liabilities from its assets.
   - Simple: The owners' share of a company, found by taking its debts away from everything it owns.
   - _The balance sheet showed shareholders' equity of $2 million at year end._
   - _Two years of heavy losses left the retailer with negative equity._
5. The body of law that grew up in the English Court of Chancery, a court with discretion beyond statute, and that is now administered alongside British common law. *(England)*
   - Simple: A set of legal rules that grew from a special court in England, now used together with the common law.
   - _Second-year students take a full course on equity and trusts._
   - _The barrister focused on equity, advising mainly on trusts and family property._
6. The power of a court with discretion beyond statute to decide cases and grant relief outside, though not against, the legal code, as when the code does not apply or is not enough.
   - Simple: A court's power to help someone outside the written law, without breaking it, when that law falls short.
   - _The judge, sitting in equity, ordered the seller to hand over the land rather than merely pay damages._
   - _A court of equity can step in when the statute gives an injured party no remedy._
7. Equality; the state of being equal. *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: The state of being equal to others.
   - _The charity campaigns for equity of access to good schools for every child._
   - _Union members demanded equity between the pay of men and women doing the same job._
8. An equitable claim: a right that a party gains from the nature of a transaction itself and can exercise if circumstances or conditions change.
   - Simple: A legal right someone gets from a deal itself, which they can use if things change later.
   - _Once the loan was repaid, the borrower exercised her equity of redemption and recovered full title to the farm._
   - _The court held that the buyer's equity bound the seller's heirs, since he had paid the full price before the seller died._
9. The share of the pot that a poker player can expect to win from a hand.
   - Simple: In poker, the part of the money in the middle that a player can expect to win.
   - _With two cards to come, her flush draw had about 35 percent equity against his pair._
   - _Folding a hand with that much equity would have been a costly mistake._

## Origin

From Middle English equitee (also equytee), from Old French equité, from Latin aequitās ('uniformity; impartiality; fairness').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/equity (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).