Dumb Question:Is there a definition for "the interest rate"(as opposed to "an interest rate")?

[BortSimpson]

This might be a very dumb question but is there such a thing as "the interest rate"? I mean, I understand what a "rate of interest" is and the idea of how risk and duration affect it. But I'm wondering is there something specific called "the interest rate". Maybe it's the Federal Funds Rate (which I know is a target range and the Fed uses open market operations to get the overnight lending rate between banks to that target).

[heavenlyboy34]

This might be a very dumb question but is there such a thing as "the interest rate"? I mean, I understand what a "rate of interest" is and the idea of how risk and duration affect it. But I'm wondering is there something specific called "the interest rate". Maybe it's the Federal Funds Rate (which I know is a target range and the Fed uses open market operations to get the overnight lending rate between banks to that target).

Not a dumb question at all. tl;dr-no. The FED has a bunch of tools at its disposal to tinker with-the Federal Funds Rate being one of them. I'll defer to our resident economists for the long form answers.