variants
or levelling
1
as in balancing
to make equal in amount, degree, or status
we'll give both teams the same equipment so as to level the playing field
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in smoothing
to make free from breaks, curves, or bumps
the construction workers leveled the ground before laying a foundation for the new house
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in aiming
to point or turn (something) toward a target or goal
the marksman leveled his gun at the target and fired
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in dropping
to strike (someone) so forcefully as to cause a fall
the boxer leveled his opponent with a single blow
Synonyms & Similar Words
5
as in demolishing
to destroy (as a building) completely by knocking down or breaking to pieces
an old warehouse that was leveled to build a parking lot
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of leveling
Since agreeing last week to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, the Israeli army has been leveling neighborhoods in towns and villages near the Lebanese-Israeli border.
—
ABC News, 24 Apr. 2026
Prepare the soil by leveling and firming it.
—Elizabeth Jardina, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Apr. 2026
The league is pushing for centralized television production for all teams, which would go a long way to leveling the financial playing field.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026
The tornado left a trail of damage in Hillsdale, Kansas, Monday night, wrecking an RV park, toppling power lines, leveling homes and destroying a storage facility near West 255th Street.
—Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 16 Apr. 2026
Federal prosecutors say the flames quickly spread, collapsing the roof and leveling the entire facility, which stored household products like Kleenex and Cottonelle.
—Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 15 Apr. 2026
His shot generated a rebound for Carlsson, who patiently waited out Tolopilo to flick a score-leveling backhand for his 29th goal of 2025-26.
—Andrew Knoll, Oc Register, 13 Apr. 2026
On Wednesday, the first day of the ceasefire, Israel hit Lebanon with its deadliest barrage of strikes of the war, killing hundreds and leveling buildings in Beirut.
—Zac Anderson, USA Today, 10 Apr. 2026
Grief has a way of leveling us.
—Jennifer Sodini, Rolling Stone, 7 Apr. 2026
ABC News, 24 Apr. 2026
Prepare the soil by leveling and firming it.
—Elizabeth Jardina, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Apr. 2026
The league is pushing for centralized television production for all teams, which would go a long way to leveling the financial playing field.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026
The tornado left a trail of damage in Hillsdale, Kansas, Monday night, wrecking an RV park, toppling power lines, leveling homes and destroying a storage facility near West 255th Street.
—Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 16 Apr. 2026
Federal prosecutors say the flames quickly spread, collapsing the roof and leveling the entire facility, which stored household products like Kleenex and Cottonelle.
—Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 15 Apr. 2026
His shot generated a rebound for Carlsson, who patiently waited out Tolopilo to flick a score-leveling backhand for his 29th goal of 2025-26.
—Andrew Knoll, Oc Register, 13 Apr. 2026
On Wednesday, the first day of the ceasefire, Israel hit Lebanon with its deadliest barrage of strikes of the war, killing hundreds and leveling buildings in Beirut.
—Zac Anderson, USA Today, 10 Apr. 2026
Grief has a way of leveling us.
—Jennifer Sodini, Rolling Stone, 7 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for leveling
Verb
-
Driven by blunt ideology rather than the reality of balancing harms, Font and Putnam-Hornstein advance a flawed and damaging premise that child safety requires normalizing and regularizing family separation.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
-
While earlier balancing machines—like those inspired by Segway—relied purely on wheels, modern humanoids have leaned toward human-like limbs.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Stansbury smiled, smoothing the fabric over my back.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 2026
-
The product design for the pull-on skinny and flare denim sought to tackle frequent fit issues women have with jeans—such as waist gaps and hip dips—with waist-smoothing paneling and padding and contour seaming to lift and round wearers’ hips.—
Sarah Jones,
Footwear News,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
However, Manilow, now cancer-free, is aiming to return to touring in June, the same month the singer releases his first new album in nearly 15 years, What a Time.—
Daniel Kreps,
Rolling Stone,
2 May 2026
-
The variety could grow further in coming years with Relativity Space, Stoke Space and Astra Space all progressing with rockets aiming to launch from Cape Canaveral, while SpaceX looks to bring its Starship and Super Heavy to the Space Coast before the end of the year.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
1 May 2026
Verb
-
Four of the seven matches went to Super Tiebreakers, and Cypress Bay had to dig out of a 2-0 hole after dropping their two singles matches.—
Gary Curreri,
Sun Sentinel,
2 May 2026
-
With that option off the table, the Jeju pilots would have had to consider dropping the gear manually.—
James Glanz,
New York Times,
1 May 2026
Verb
-
Trump has overseen dramatic cosmetic changes on the White House grounds during his second term, including paving over the grassy line of the famous Rose Garden and demolishing the White House's East Wing to make way for a massive ballroom.—
Joey Garrison,
USA Today,
1 May 2026
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Mary Shepard Place — built in the 1940s as Bellevue Square in the Clay Arsenal neighborhood — would be redeveloped in two phases, demolishing a total of 127, low-income apartments and replacing them with 159.—
Kenneth R. Gosselin,
Hartford Courant,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Contemporary theories of consciousness generally attempt to bridge this gap by equating consciousness with some measurable, physical property of the brain.—
Conor Feehly,
Big Think,
10 Mar. 2026
-
The administration reframes the drug war as military conflict, equating cartels to terrorist groups like ISIS and prioritizing lethal force over law enforcement.—
Joshua Goodman,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
This news organization recently interviewed Poppe about PG&E’s status, including the new reality of bills flattening out or even falling.—
George Avalos,
Mercury News,
24 Apr. 2026
-
In a town of fewer than 2,000 people, a tornado carved through a heavily residential subdivision, flattening homes and scattering families.—
Samantha Agate,
Sacbee.com,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Other states have to confront the unprecedented possibility of revising maps even as voters are casting ballots or the legal process of declaring intent to run for office has concluded.—
Nicholas Riccardi,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
-
PooCrave rose in the wake of PopCrave, a Twitter account that is practically legacy media at this point, which aggregates news and celebrity birthdays and casting announcements (not to be confused with PopBase … which is similar and different).—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
30 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Leveling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/leveling. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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