leverage.

1. The ability to influence an outcome because of an advantageous position, resource or relationship.

2. The use of borrowed funds or related arrangements to increase financial exposure relative to one’s own capital.

3. The advantage in applying force obtained through the arrangement or operation of a lever.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• negotiating leverage
• political leverage

On the page

Access to several suppliers gave the purchaser greater negotiating leverage.

The coalition gained political leverage without holding a majority of seats.

Usage notes

Primary category: economics / business / social science. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: financial analysis, risk evaluation, comparison, explanation. Disciplines: economics, finance, business. Commonness: moderately common.