leveraged

adjective

lev·​er·​aged ˈle-və-rijd 

ˈlē-;

ˈlev-rijd, 

ˈlēv-

1

: having a high proportion of debt relative to equity

2

of the purchase of a company : made with borrowed money that is secured by the assets of the company bought

a leveraged buyout

Examples of leveraged in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

After a decade in which private credit lenders grew rapidly and took over a large share of financing for leveraged buyouts, signs of strain in that sector, along with easing bank rules, may now be shifting the balance. —Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 27 Mar. 2026

Also at issue is the Middle Eastern money the Ellison family has been expecting to pull off Paramount’s leveraged buyout of its larger entertainment company rival. —Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2026

Instead of buying Bitcoin and holding it, now traders could place leveraged bets of 10, 50, even 100 times their initial stake on whether its value will rise or fall. —Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 17 Mar. 2026

The bank’s platform, on the other hand, enables engineers to think about things like performance, scalability, security, and guardrails in a way that’s shared and leveraged. —Sage Lazzaro, Fortune, 17 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1953, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing leveraged

• leveraged buyout