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leverage

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Leverage is the action of a lever or the power to influence people, events or things. (noun)

An example of leverage is the motion of a seesaw. An example of leverage is being the only person running for class president.

Leverage means to support or provide. Leverage means to use for profit. (verb)

An example of leverage is to financially back up a new company.
An example of leverage is to exploit factory workers for personal gain.

See leverage in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

the action of a lever
the increased force resulting from this
means of accomplishing some purpose

transitive verb leveraged, leveraging

to speculate in (a business investment) largely through the use of borrowed funds, or credit, with the expectation of earning substantial profits; also, to mortgage (oneself or one's assets) in this way

See leverage in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(lĕvˈər-ĭj, lēˈvər-)

noun

a. The action of a lever.
b. The mechanical advantage of a lever.
Positional advantage; power to act effectively: “started his . . . career with far more social leverage than his father had enjoyed” (Doris Kearns Goodwin).
The use of credit or borrowed funds to improve one's speculative capacity and increase the rate of return from an investment, as in buying securities on margin.

transitive verb lev·er·aged, lev·er·ag·ing, lev·er·ag·es

a. To provide (a company) with leverage.
b. To supplement (money, for example) with leverage.
To improve or enhance: “It makes more sense to be able to leverage what we [public radio stations] do in a more effective way to our listeners” (Delano Lewis).

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