leverage
Syllables: le·ve·rage/ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
leverage noun: a force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot.
Noun
leverage (usually uncountable, plural leverages)
- A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot.
- A crowbar uses leverage to pry nails out of wood.
- In order to proportion the braking force to the weight carried by a wheel - a matter of special importance in the braking of wagons - variable leverage systems are now being introduced in which the end of one axle spring is linked to a control spring in the change-over valve, so automatically...1960 April, “The braking of trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 237
- Synonyms:
- mechanical advantage
- Any influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage.
- Try using competitors’ prices for leverage in the negotiation.
- The former Forest man, who passed a late fitness test, appeared to use Guy Moussi for leverage before nodding in David Fox's free-kick at the far post - his 22nd goal of the season.2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2 - 1 Nott'm Forest”, in BBC Sport
- The use of borrowed funds with a contractually determined return to increase the ability to invest and earn an expected higher return, but usually at high risk.
- Leverage is great until something goes wrong with your investments and you still have to pay your debts.
- Online margin trading is usually based on leverage, where the brokerage effectively lets you borrow more money than you have deposited as collateral.2011, Brian Dolan, Currency Trading For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 55
- The debt-to-equity ratio.
- In such cases where there is a multiple capital structure the factor known as leverage comes into play.1933 June 4, “Trusts Heartened by Security Rally”, in New York Times
- Synonyms:
- gearing
- The ability to earn very high returns when operating at high-capacity utilization of a facility.
- Their variable-cost-reducing investments have dramatically increased their leverage.
- Synonyms:
- operating leverage
- The distance of between an independent observation and other observations.
Verb
leverage (third-person singular simple present leverages, present participle leveraging, simple past and past participle leveraged)
- To use; to exploit; to manipulate in order to take full advantage (of something).
- They plan to leverage the publicity into a good distribution agreement.
- They plan to leverage off the publicity to get a good distribution agreement.
leverage meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
leverage in Hindi
- लीवरेज
leverage in Tamil
- நெம்புகோலழுத்தல், ஊக்கு ஆற்றல், நெம்புத்திறன், நெம்புநயம், நெம்புகோலியக்கம், நெம்புகோலின் கையாட்சி
leverage in Marathi
- लीव्हरेज
leverage in Urdu
- فائدہ, پہلو
More languagesFewer languages
- leverage in Bengali
- লিভারেজ
- leverage in Telugu
- లీవరేజ్, లివరేజ్
- leverage in Malayalam
- ഉത്തോലകശക്തി, ഗുണഫലം, അനുകൂലഘടകം, പ്രത്യേകമായി ലഭിക്കുന്ന ആനുകൂല്യം
- leverage in Punjabi
- ਲੀਵਰੇਜ, ਲੀਵਰੇਜ਼, ਲਿਵਰੇਜ਼
- leverage in Gujarati
- લીવરેજ
- leverage in Odia
- ଲିଭେରେଜ୍, ଲିଭରେଜ, ଲିଭରେଜ୍
- leverage in Nepali
- लिभरेज
Examples of leverage in a sentence
- They also offer extreme leverage — up to 125 times on Binance.2021 July 23, Eric Lipton, Ephrat Livni, “‘I Feel Conflicted’: Crypto’s Offshore Trading Moguls Talk Shop”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- S.E.C. rules cap E.T.F.s from offering more than two times leverage.2025 December 5, “Why the Battle for Warner Bros. Discovery May Not Be Over Yet”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times...
- Lee, a private equity financier who pioneered the use of leveraged buyouts that helped to reshape corporate America, has died, according to a notice from his former firm that still bears his name.2023 February 24, Chris Isidore, “Thomas H. Lee, pioneer of leveraged buyouts, is dead at 78”, in CNN:
Synonyms of leverage
Forms of leverage
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | leverages |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | leverages |
| present participle | leveraging |
| past participle | leveraged |
| past | leveraged |
Origin of leverage
From lever + -age. The verb likely comes from martial arts/judo usage, where one would "use an opponent's leverage (i.e. their weight, height, centre of balance, etc.)" against them in order to defeat them.
Words formed from leverage
Phrases with leverage
Questions about leverage
- What does leverage mean?
- Leverage means a force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot.
- What is leverage in Hindi?
- Leverage in Hindi is लीवरेज. See Leverage meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use leverage in a sentence?
- They also offer extreme leverage — up to 125 times on Binance.
- What part of speech is leverage?
- Leverage can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce leverage?
- Leverage is pronounced /ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/.
- What is the plural of leverage?
- The plural of leverage is leverages.
Words near leverage in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: leverage (page history and authors); leverage (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); leverage (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); leverage (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); leverage (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); leverage (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); leverage (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); leverage (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); leverage (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); leverage (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); leverage (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); leverage (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-leverage.ogg.
Cite this entry: “leverage.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/leverage. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.