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

But once prices began to slide, many of those same investors faced rising margin requirements, the minimum amount set by brokerage firms to maintain their leveraged position, according to Nigel Green, CEO of financial consulting firm deVere Group. —Mary Cunningham, CBS News, 2 Feb. 2026

In general, cleaning out your retirement account to make a leveraged bet on a single asset is not a wise financial move. —Allison Schrager, Twin Cities, 1 Feb. 2026

And once ensconced, Ferguson proved one of the Americans’ staunchest advocates — steadfastly refusing to criticise either the leveraged nature of their buyout, or their approach to transfer spending. —Chris McKenna, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2026

On the bearish side, Vanda found abnormally high flow ratios into the ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL), showing plenty of individual investors are making leveraged bets that the price will crash, Bhakre said. —Alex Harring, CNBC, 27 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1953, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing leveraged

• leveraged buyout