leaven
Americannoun
-
a substance, as yeast or baking powder, that causes fermentation and expansion of dough or batter.
-
fermented dough reserved for producing fermentation in a new batch of dough.
-
an element that produces an altering or transforming influence.
verb (used with object)
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leavens,
present (3rd person singular)
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leavened,
past participle, past
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leavening
present participle
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to add leaven to (dough or batter) and cause to rise.
-
to permeate with an altering or transforming element.
noun
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any substance that produces fermentation in dough or batter, such as yeast, and causes it to rise
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a piece of such a substance kept to ferment a new batch of dough
-
an agency or influence that produces a gradual change
verb
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to cause fermentation in (dough or batter)
-
to pervade, causing a gradual change, esp with some moderating or enlivening influence
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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leavensimple
-
leavenssimple
-
have leavenedperfect
-
has leavenedperfect
-
am leaveningprogressive
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are leaveningprogressive
-
is leaveningprogressive
-
have been leaveningperfect progressive
-
has been leaveningperfect progressive
Past
-
leavenedsimple
-
had leavenedperfect
-
was leaveningprogressive
-
were leaveningprogressive
-
had been leaveningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of leaven
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English levain, levein, leven, from Anglo-French levein, levain, Old French levain, from Vulgar Latin levāmen (unrecorded) “means of raising or lifting,” from Latin levāmen “alleviation, mitigation, relief,” derivative of levā(re) “to raise, lift up; relieve, reduce” + -men noun suffix
Explanation
Leaven, as a noun, is that which causes transformation. It’s the source of yeast that makes your bread rise, it’s the risen bread, and it’s anything that changes the nature of something else. Coming through Old French from the Latin verb levare, which means “to raise,” leaven changes everything. It makes dough go from flat to loaf, and it’s also the term to describe the risen dough before it’s baked. And leaven can be anything that causes transformation — "Winning the lottery will be the leaven that allows you to travel the world." Additionally it’s a verb: "When you bake bread, you leaven the dough to make it rise."
Vocabulary lists containing leaven
Stairway To Leaven: Baking Vocabulary
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April Vocabulary Words
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The Devil's Arithmetic
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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:
If Ms. Gage wanted some celebratory leaven, she could have visited Dayton, Ohio’s many sites devoted to the Wright Brothers and their world-changing invention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
Port cities teem with elegant sailing ships, costumes are colorful and pockets of humor and romance leaven the action sequences.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
I also used to leaven the proceedings with humor.
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2024
I found the embellishments that the directors devised — among them classic magic tricks with playing cards and levitation — leaven the play’s more plodding contrivances.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 26, 2023
A leaven of love was left, it is true— Lancelot, Gareth, Aglovale and a few old dodderers like Sir Grummore and Sir Palomides: but the tone was set elsewhere.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
A doleful tale, but Mr. Ogilvy also leavens it with humor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Whether the songs are presented in their orchestral splendor or as frenetic electronica, each needle drop leavens the natural comedy of John’s frantic awkwardness or captures his chronic sorrow.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2025
The yeast is tolerant of this acidic environment, and it ferments carbohydrates other than maltose to produce the carbon dioxide that leavens the bread.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 1, 2023
The book is studded with commanding color photography and graphics, creating an immersive landscape that leavens the dense text.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2023
It is this supernatural element that leavens natural passion, and gives its mad rage to it.
From Is Life Worth Living? by W. H. (William Hurrell) Mallock
These sweeping observations are leavened by Mr. Windolf’s countless and often amusing anecdotes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
And the clattering syncopated loop that repeats through “Oblivion” is there mostly as a contrast to the wispy and diaphanous vocals, which are so thin and leavened with reverb that they threaten to float away.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
In person, “Baltimore’s practiced elegance frames a fierce pride and a sometimes brutal intellect, softened only by his insistence that professional criticism be leavened by personal respect.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025
The most significant missing piece is the prevalent wry humor that leavened “Mare” in its darkest moments.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2025
Not a crumb or speck of leavened bread could be found anywhere.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
The film’s comedy won’t appeal to all tastes, but some will welcome the leavening effect it has on the movie’s more frightening aspects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
A corrosive rage courses through this 163-minute odyssey that’s matched by a leavening absurdism, Jude aghast at the comical stupidity of our inauthentic, greed-driven world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2024
But I do depart from my standard in one major way: Swirled brownies need leavening.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 7, 2022
Instead of leavening the gravity, D’Angelo, joined by the pianist Sophia Muñoz in the Armory’s Board of Officers Room, doubled down.
From New York Times ● Sep. 18, 2022
He recorded the moment in his journal, leavening his relief with the one overriding concern that had lent urgency to the work of all the atomic scientists of those years.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
