Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense rate-caps, present participle rate-capping, past tense, past participle rate-capped
1. verb [usually passive]
In Britain, when a local council was rate-capped, the government prevented it from increasing local taxes called rates, in order to force the council to reduce its spending or make it more efficient.
Notts County Council is to cut 200 jobs in a bid to escape being rate-capped. [beVERB-ed]
rate-cappinguncountable noun
The project is seriously threatened by rate-capping.
2. countable noun
A rate cap is a limit placed by the government on the amount of interest that banks or credit card companies can charge their customers.
[US]
rate-cap in British English
(ˈreɪtˌkæp)
verbWord forms: -caps, -capping or -capped(transitive)
(formerly in Britain) to impose on (a local authority) an upper limit on the level of the rate it may levy