deleverage
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Etymology
Origin of deleverage
First recorded in 1980–85; de- ( def. ) + leverage ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The company’s store size continues to expand, they add, which could lead to severe operating deleverage if sales growth declines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
The funds that adjust for volatility, meanwhile, will likely continue to deleverage but “with small impact,” they said.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 27, 2026
Paramount will have nearly $80 billion in debt after the deal and plans to deleverage rapidly, a goal that has raised eyebrows up and down Wall Street.
From Barron's ● Mar. 19, 2026
China's years-long effort to deleverage its economy has pushed companies to resort to off-balance sheet investments in search of funding.
From Reuters ● Sep. 21, 2021
It would have the ability to deleverage in coming years, but an estimated $1.6 billion in year-end 2015 free cash flow would provide little margin for error.
From Forbes ● Apr. 23, 2015
With the noteholder agreement, the company has "an exit path from Chapter 11 as a deleveraged business, poised for continued growth," Fox said in the filing.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2018
Shadow banking has grown like topsy since the financial crisis, in large part because big banks have deleveraged their balance sheets and risk has migrated to the shadow areas of finance.
From Time ● Oct. 14, 2015
In the global financial crisis, "too many balance sheets deleveraged simultaneously, threatening a global depression and forcing governments to step in with their own balance sheets to arrest an increasingly disorderly process," El-Erian wrote.
From Reuters ● May 13, 2010
The irony is that in the deleveraged society the U.S. is in the process of becoming, it's the careful consumer who may ultimately bail out the economy.
From Time Magazine Archive
“With the deleveraging process well advanced and a more flexible capital structure in place, WD retains the ability to continue returning capital while benefiting from durable nearline and AI-driven demand trends,” Daryanani wrote.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
If there is deleveraging among them at some point, it could shrink the opportunity set that banks are competing over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Price pullbacks in January and March coincided with outflows from exchange-traded-funds and spikes in trading activity, suggesting profit-taking and deleveraging, the WGC, a trade group, said in its latest report.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
There’s a clean path for U.S. stocks next month to advance after massive institutional deleveraging, according to a report from Goldman Sachs trading desk team.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 27, 2026
“We are going through the greatest deleveraging in the history of financial services and it’s going to go on and on and on,” he said.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
