Meaning & use
over-leveraging
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablefinancebusiness
The practice of borrowing more money than is safe for a person, company, or economy to repay.
Grammar: Used as an uncountable noun, often after verbs like avoid, reduce, or warn about: The bank was criticized for over-leveraging.
Patterns
- avoid over-leveraging
- reduce over-leveraging
- over-leveraging by companies
Analysts blamed the collapse on years of over-leveraging by the property developer.
The central bank warned that over-leveraging in the housing market could trigger a crisis.
Their strategy of over-leveraging worked while interest rates were low, but it became dangerous when rates rose.
Common combinations
- corporate over-leveraging
- Corporate over-leveraging reached its peak just before the recession.
- reduce over-leveraging
- The new CEO promised to reduce over-leveraging by selling off assets.
- over-leveraging risk
- Regulators are monitoring over-leveraging risk in the banking sector.
- avoid over-leveraging
- Prudent investors avoid over-leveraging even when credit is cheap.
Synonyms and how they differ
- excessive borrowing
- A more general phrase that can refer to any kind of borrowing, not just financial leverage.
- debt overload
- Informal and less technical; it emphasizes the burden of debt rather than the act of borrowing.
Opposites
Word family
- over-leveraged adjective
- Describing a person or company that has borrowed too much.
- leverage noun
- The use of borrowed money to increase potential returns.
- leveraged adjective
- Financed with a large amount of debt.
Commonly confused: over-leveraging or over-leveraged?
over-leveraging vs over-leveraged
Over-leveraging is the noun (the action); over-leveraged is the adjective (the state). Say 'The company's over-leveraging caused problems,' not 'The company's over-leveraged caused problems.'
Practice
The bank was accused of ______ after it borrowed billions to fund risky investments.
Choose one answer.
After the preposition 'of' we need a noun, so 'over-leveraging' is correct. 'Over-leveraged' is an adjective, 'over-leverage' is a verb, and 'over-leverages' is a third-person singular verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “over-leveraging”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.