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leverage en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈliːv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
• /ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
• (US) audio

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot.
   • 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 varying the leverage exerted by the brake-rod according to whether the wagon is full or empty. 1960 April, “The braking of trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 237:
   • A crowbar uses leverage to pry nails out of wood.
2. (broadly, uncountable, usually) 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:
3. (uncountable, usually) 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.
   • S.E.C. rules cap E.T.F.s from offering more than two times leverage. The nine fund managers who received a letter from the S.E.C. sought to introduce products that offered three and, in some cases, five 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 Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • Leverage is great until something goes wrong with your investments and you still have to pay your debts.
   • Both exchanges offer crypto derivatives, which are bets on future fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices. They also offer extreme leverage — up to 125 times on Binance. That means a $1,000 down payment can be turned into a $125,000 gamble. 2021 July 23, Eric Lipton, Ephrat Livni, “‘I Feel Conflicted’: Crypto’s Offshore Trading Moguls Talk Shop”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • 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:
4. (uncountable, usually) 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:
5. (uncountable, usually) 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.
6. (qualifier:regression analytics, uncountable, usually) The distance of between an independent observation and other observations.

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
leverages	Number=Plur		lexicographic

Coordinates

torque

Deriveds

overleverage

Synonyms

mechanical advantage · operating leverage · gearing

Translations (82)

ca palanquejament (use of borrowed funds) · ca influència (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · hu emelőerő (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · pt alavancagem (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · it potenza (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · nl invloed (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · de Fremdfinanzierungsgrad (use of borrowed funds) · da indvirkning (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · es palanqueo (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · ca rendiment (ability to earn very high returns) · de Hebelwirkung (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · es rendimiento (ability to earn very high returns) · el μόχλευση (use of borrowed funds) · pt alavancagem (use of borrowed funds) · eo influo (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · da løftestang (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · hu befolyás (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · fi vipuvarsi (use of borrowed funds) · sv inflytande (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · sh uticaj (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · fr effet de levier (use of borrowed funds) · pl naciski (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · tr koz (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · ru рыча́г (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · he הנפה (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · pl siła nacisku (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · sh utjecaj (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · de Hebelwirkung (ability to earn very high returns) · es palanca (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · fi vipuvarsi (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · pl lewarowanie (use of borrowed funds) · nl leverage (use of borrowed funds) · gl apancamento (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · de Einfluss (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · fi vaikutusvalta (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · de Verschuldungsgrad (use of borrowed funds) · nl hefboomkracht (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · nl hefboom (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · fi vivuttaminen (use of borrowed funds) · es palanca (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · de Hebelkraft (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · hu tőkeáttétel (ability to earn very high returns) · de Hebel (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · tr manivela (ability to earn very high returns) · ga luamhánacht (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · it influenza (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · ga tionchar (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · es apalancamiento (use of borrowed funds) · ja レバレッジ (use of borrowed funds) · es apalancamiento (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · it leva (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · kk левераж (use of borrowed funds) · cmn 槓桿 /杠杆 (use of borrowed funds) · sv hävstångseffekt (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · da indflydelse (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · it leveraggio (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · el μόχλευση (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · pl dźwignia finansowa (use of borrowed funds) · de Hebelwirkung (use of borrowed funds) · gl influencia (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · ga cumas luamháin (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · nl voordeel (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · de verstärkter Druck (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · sh forsiranje (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · ca avantatge (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · sv hävstång (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · sv hävstång (use of borrowed funds) · es enchufe (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · ja レバ (use of borrowed funds) · sv hävstångseffekt (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · ca palanca (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · de Hebel (ability to earn very high returns) · fi vipuvoima (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · de Fremdkapitalaufnahme (use of borrowed funds) · fi vipuvoima (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · nl hefboomfonds (use of borrowed funds) · tr kaldıraç kuvveti (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · eo levil-efika prunto (use of borrowed funds) · ru рыча́г (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · nl hefboomkracht (force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot) · nl hefboom (influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage) · sv hävstångseffekt (use of borrowed funds)

leverage en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈliːv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
• /ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
• (US) audio

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. (US, slang, transitive) To use; to exploit; to manipulate in order to take full advantage (of something).
   • They plan to leverage off the publicity to get a good distribution agreement.
   • Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide (AIR) today announced that Sompo International, a global specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, is leveraging AIR's casualty analytics platform, Arium, to better understand and quantify its liability and loss potential across multiple commercial liability lines of business. 2019 June 19, “Sompo International to Leverage AIR's Innovative Casualty Analytics Solution for Multi-Line Risk Analysis”, in CNN Money, archived from the original on 14 May 2025:
   • Thomas H. 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:
   • They plan to leverage the publicity into a good distribution agreement.
   • Russian forces continue to prioritize their offensive push towards Pokrovsk, and the operational significance of seizing the city will likely in part depend on the Russian military's ability to leverage the city in wider operational maneuver in Donetsk Oblast. 2024 October 3, Riley Bailey, Angelica Evans, Grace Mappes, Davit Gasparyan, Nate Trotter, Frederick W. Kagan, “Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 3, 2024”, in Ukraine Project, Institute for the Study of War:
   • EAP research has developed advanced methods for producing corpus-informed vocabulary resources, but these have yet to be fully leveraged to promote disciplinary literacy within the secondary school context. 2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects”, in Journal of English for Academic Purposes, volume 35, →DOI, page 105:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
leveraged	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
leveraged	Tense=Past		lexicographic
leveraging	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
leverages	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres		lexicographic

Deriveds

deleverage · overleveraged · overleverage · leverageable · unleveraged · leveraged buyout · leverager · underleveraged

Relateds

force multiplier

Synonyms

exploit (take full advantage of) · use (take full advantage of)

Translations (51)

he מינף (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · es palanquear (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · no profittere på (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · hu profitál (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · cmn 利用 (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · cs využít (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · fr profiter (de quelque chose) (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · el εκμεταλλεύομαι (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · sk použiť pákový efekt (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · tr nüfuz etmek (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · de voll zunutze machen (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · ru вы́годно испо́льзовать (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · ca aprofitar (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · de ausnutzen (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · hu hasznot húz (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · pl wykorzystywać (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · el αξιοποιώ (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · fr tirer parti (de quelque chose) (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · hu kihasznál (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · no utnytte (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · de hebeln (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · fr exploiter (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · pt aproveitar (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · it approfittare di (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · cs vytěžit (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · es aprovechar (se de) (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · hu rávesz (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · cs zúročit (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · ru применя́ть (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · sh profitírati (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · hu hasznosít (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · gl aproveitar (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · de wirksam einsetzen (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · eo avantaĝutiligi (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · hu elér (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · no dra fordel av (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · hu kiaknáz (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · pl wykorzystać (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · ru максима́льно испо́льзовать (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · fi hyödyntää (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · de aushebeln (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · es apalancar (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · tr (birini) kullanmak (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · hu bevet (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · ru оптимизи́ровать (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · hu befolyásol (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · eo uzi levilan efikon (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · it avvantaggiarsi di (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · it fare leva su (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · ru улучша́ть (use, exploit, take full advantage of) · sh профити́рати (use, exploit, take full advantage of)