interests

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of interest.

   His interests range from astronomy to medieval history.

   The committee weighed the competing interests of residents and developers.

   Note

   Only some meanings of interest can be counted, and this plural belongs to them. The money sense and the sense of curiosity are usually uncountable, so interests rarely means interest charges or attention in general. Instead it means stakes and claims (the competing interests of residents and developers) or the things a person is drawn to. The same spelling also serves as the verb form: it interests me.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of interest.

   The new exhibit interests visitors of all ages.

   Whatever interests the public tends to sell well.

   Note

   The thing that draws attention is the subject, and the person drawn in is the object. A new exhibit interests visitors, and visitors are interested in it. Older English also used the verb impersonally to mean "concerns" or "affects," and in a sense of making someone share in something. Both uses are now obsolete, so a sentence like it interests the town today means it engages the town's curiosity.

3. 3
   nouncountableplural

   The persons or groups who share a stake in a particular business or cause, taken together as a single body.

   Powerful financial interests shaped the bill behind closed doors.

   The railroad interests opposed any regulation of freight rates.

   Similarlobbies, groups, factions, concerns, stakeholders

   Note

   Here the stakes have turned into the people who hold them. The sense exists only in the plural, so it takes a plural verb and has no singular counterpart. It almost always comes with a modifier naming the industry or cause, as in the coal-mining interests or the separatist interests. Unlike the ordinary plural, which counts separate stakes or pursuits, it gathers a whole group under one label.

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