Meaning & use
hedging
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“hedging” is a form of “hedge”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
noununcountablefinance
Protecting yourself against financial loss by making a second investment or deal that would gain if the first one lost value.
Grammar: No article: hedging reduces risk.
Patterns
- hedging against something
- hedging strategy
Airlines use fuel hedging to protect themselves from sudden price rises.
Currency hedging helped the exporter avoid losses when the exchange rate moved.
Hedging against inflation led many investors to buy gold.
noununcountable
Speaking or writing in a vague, cautious way so as to avoid a firm commitment or a direct answer.
Grammar: Uncountable; also used in linguistics for words like perhaps or might.
Patterns
- stop hedging
- hedging in an answer
After a long period of hedging, the minister finally gave a straight answer.
Academic writing often includes hedging, with words such as may and appears.
Her hedging made it clear she did not want to be blamed.
verbtransitive or intransitive
Present participle of hedge: avoiding a direct answer, protecting against a loss, or trimming or planting a hedge.
Grammar: Intransitive when avoiding an answer: he kept hedging; transitive in hedging your bets.
Patterns
- hedging your bets
- hedging against something
- hedging about something
He is hedging his bets by applying to several schools.
Stop hedging and tell us what you really think.
She spent the weekend hedging the garden.
Word forms
| base form | hedge |
|---|---|
| third person singular | hedges |
| past tense | hedged |
| past participle | hedged |
Common combinations
- hedging strategy
- The fund adopted a hedging strategy against falling prices.
- hedging your bets
- She is hedging her bets by learning two instruments.
- stop hedging
- Please stop hedging and give a clear answer.
- currency hedging
- Currency hedging protected the profits.
- hedging against inflation
- Real estate is often used for hedging against inflation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- evading
- Evading means avoiding a question or duty completely, whereas hedging means giving a cautious answer that avoids commitment.
- equivocating
- Equivocating is a formal word for using vague language to mislead, while hedging may only be cautious.
- insuring
- Insuring protects against a loss for a fee, while hedging protects through an opposite investment.
- waffling
- Waffling is informal and critical, suggesting long, unclear talk, whereas hedging can be deliberate.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: hedging or edging?
hedging vs edging
Edging means forming or moving along a border, while hedging concerns plants, finance or vague speech.
Practice
The airline protects itself from rising oil costs through fuel ___.
Choose one answer.
Hedging is protecting against financial risk. Pledging means promising, which fits a different kind of financial sentence but not protecting against price rises.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hedging”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.