leveraged

adjective lev·er·aged \ ˈle-və-rijd , ˈlē- ; ˈlev-rijd , ˈlēv- \

|Updated on: 10 Aug 2018

Definition of leveraged

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

Recent Examples of leveraged from the Web

The company has also been focusing on initial public offerings and helping private equity firms with leveraged buyouts.

— sonali basak, Bloomberg.com, "Top UBS Banker Has ‘Very Aggressive Plan for U.S.’," 5 Apr. 2018
Sylvia Jablonski, head of capital markets and institutional strategy at asset manager Direxion, which offers 76 inverse or leveraged ETFs, points out that typical holding periods are short for such products.

— spencer jakab, WSJ, "Investors Can’t Get Enough of Wall Street’s Sucker’s Bets," 29 June 2018
Morgan Stanley, which had helped broker Fort Howard’s deals, swept in and snatched the company for $3.9 billion in one of those famed leveraged buyouts.

— alexis c. madrigal, The Atlantic, "Disposable America," 21 June 2018
Cash Heavy Animal spirits are returning to the leveraged-buyout business, and that is helping fuel a historic rise in merger activity.

— matt murray, WSJ, "The 10-Point.," 14 June 2018
Another ad targeting African-Americans on Instagram leveraged news reports of an anti-Beyoncé rally — a viral stunt that wound up being attended by just two people — to push a pro-Beyoncé rally at the same location on Park Avenue in New York.

— NBC News, "Sean Hannity, Black Lives Matter among targets of Russian influence campaign, disclosures show," 10 May 2018
Acquired through a leveraged transaction, the business faced significant sales declines due in part to a loss of credit insurance overseas.

— bloomberg news, NOLA.com, "Gibson files for bankruptcy in deal to renew guitar business," 1 May 2018
Both bankruptcies can be traced to massive private equity deals known as leveraged buyouts, which involved large amounts of debt.

— jon chesto, BostonGlobe.com, "IHeart and Toys R Us take different paths in bankruptcy," 15 Mar. 2018
Local dollars will be leveraged to secure federal grant funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to design and construct the repairs.

— staff report, Houston Chronicle, "Harris County Flood Control District begins drive on $84 million hurricane repair program," 27 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'leveraged.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.