LEVERAGE

leverage, leveraging

(noun) investing with borrowed money as a way to amplify potential gains (at the risk of greater losses)

leverage

(noun) strategic advantage; power to act effectively; “relatively small groups can sometimes exert immense political leverage”

leverage, purchase

(noun) the mechanical advantage gained by being in a position to use a lever

leverage

(verb) provide with leverage; “We need to leverage this company”

leverage

(verb) supplement with leverage; “leverage the money that is already available”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

leverage (usually uncountable, plural leverages)

A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot; see torque.

By extension, any influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage.

(finance) The use of borrowed funds with a contractually determined return to increase the ability of a business to invest and earn an expected higher return, but usually at high risk.

(business) The ability to earn very high returns when operating at high capacity utilization of a facility.

Synonyms

• (force compounded by a lever): mechanical advantage

• (use of borrowed fund): financial leverage

• (ability to earn high returns from high capacity utilization): operating leverage

Verb

leverage (third-person singular simple present leverages, present participle leveraging, simple past and past participle leveraged)

(transitive, chiefly, US, slang, business) To use; to exploit; to manipulate in order to take full advantage (of something).

Synonyms

• (take full advantage of): exploit, use

Source: Wiktionary


Lev"er*age, n.

Definition: The action of a lever; mechanical advantage gained by the lever. Leverage of a couple (Mech.), the perpendicular distance between the lines of action of two forces which act in parallel and opposite directions.

– Leverage of a force, the perpendicular distance from the line in which a force acts upon a body to a point about which the body may be supposed to turn.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

7 June 2025

PARSEC

(noun) a unit of astronomical length based on the distance from Earth at which stellar parallax is 1 second of arc; equivalent to 3.262 light years


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Coffee Trivia

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