Leveraged

How to spell leveraged

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce leveraged

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does leveraged mean?

1. verbUsed a resource, asset, or advantage to its fullest effect to achieve a result.
2. adjectiveFunded largely with borrowed money rather than the owner's own capital.

Leveraged in a sentence

• verb

  The agency leveraged its industry contacts to win the contract.

• adjective

  The firm was acquired through a heavily leveraged buyout.

• verb

  She leveraged her years of teaching experience when applying for the management role.

• adjective

  The property fund was so highly leveraged that a small rate rise threatened it.

Where does leveraged come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb levare, meaning 'to raise' or 'to make lighter', which itself grew from levis, meaning 'light in weight'. From levare came the Old French levier, the name for a bar used to raise or prise something, and English borrowed this around the 1300s as 'lever'. By the 1700s English speakers had added the noun suffix -age to make 'leverage', meaning the mechanical advantage a lever provides, and from there the figurative sense of 'power or influence used to get a result'. The verb 'to leverage' is much more recent, rising in business and finance through the twentieth century, and 'leveraged' is its past tense and adjective form. The same levare root quietly survives in relatives such as 'elevate', 'levity', and 'relieve', all carrying that idea of lifting or lightening.

How the word is built

• lever (from Latin levare: to raise)
• -age (noun suffix)
• -ed (past tense / adjective suffix)