How to Use leverage in a Sentence

leverage

1 of 2 noun
  • I used the leverage of the bar and a wooden block to pry the rock out of the hole.
  • The player's popularity has given him a great deal of leverage with the owners of the team.
  • The union's size gave it leverage in the labor contract negotiations.
  • Here’s a look at some of the key points of U.S. leverage.
    Katie Rogers, New York Times, 15 Dec. 2023
  • But Lukashenko no longer has the leverage to play the East against the West.
    Washington Post, 28 May 2021
  • That gave Democrats more leverage in the months to come.
    The Washington Post, NOLA.com, 8 Sep. 2017
  • The low-rise bars fell right to hand and give a lot of leverage.
    Bill Roberson, Forbes, 28 Dec. 2021
  • The longer this thing drags on, the more leverage the Texans have.
    Brian T. Smith, San Antonio Express-News, 13 Feb. 2021
  • The team did not trust him in high-leverage spots in the postseason.
    Andy McCullough, latimes.com, 4 June 2018
  • Races ahead of plays and voids his leverage and run fits at times.
    Joe Noga, cleveland.com, 8 Mar. 2018
  • There’s even voice tech, voice search, Alexa and smart homes to leverage.
    Rolling Stone Culture Council, Rolling Stone, 23 June 2022
  • What’s the over/under on the date the Bears tip their hand and lose leverage on the No. 1 overall pick?
    Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Jan. 2024
  • Arizona State didn't seemed to be a team with a lot of leverage.
    Michelle Gardner, The Arizona Republic, 4 Apr. 2022
  • For the first time in a long while, workers have some leverage to push for more.
    Patricia Cohen, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2018
  • Not exactly the kind of leverage to pry away a bevy of top prospects.
    Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press, 18 July 2017
  • Using the shape of the helix, twist the corkscrew into the cork and then use leverage to pull it out.
    Maya Polton, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Feb. 2024
  • Our job now is to sustain it, leverage it, and build on it.
    Jill Filipovic, Marie Claire, 7 Nov. 2018
  • Gavin’s got the gun Rafe used to kill Peterkin, which gives him leverage.
    Ariana Romero, refinery29.com, 4 Aug. 2021
  • But the hostages are also perhaps the last leverage these men hold.
    Jeffrey Gettleman Tamir Kalifa, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2023
  • Putin pretends to be crazy in order to scare us and to gain leverage.
    David Remnick, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2022
  • And that gives Japan some leverage in the chip industry.
    Lionel Lim, Fortune Asia, 2 Mar. 2024
  • That sort of leverage seems likely to dissipate, thanks to the new find.
    David Meyer, Fortune, 12 Apr. 2018
  • And too much of that leverage also exists in too few hands.
    CBS News, 12 Aug. 2020
  • Without him, the offense stalled on those high-leverage plays.
    Childs Walker, baltimoresun.com, 9 Dec. 2019
  • Still, Logan gets to keep it as a gruesome piece of leverage over his son.
    Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2021
  • While all of that gives Grant leverage, the Blazers do sit in a position of strength.
    Afentres, oregonlive, 11 Apr. 2023
  • And that really put more leverage on the part of workers.
    NBC News, 17 Oct. 2021
  • But the rail companies, which move 40% of the country’s cargo, have a lot of leverage.
    Dan Schwartz, Fortune, 7 Apr. 2023
  • This amount of leverage is good for acrylic latex sealants as well as heavier adhesives like asphalt and cement.
    Nor'adila Hepburn, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Mar. 2024
  • Ruby Chen told Biden and other U.S. officials who called in the wake of the news that his family’s journey was not over, and — just as when his son was classified as a hostage — urged them to use all possible leverage to bring him home.
    Shira Rubin, Washington Post, 7 Apr. 2024
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leverage

2 of 2 verb
  • The company wants to leverage its brands more effectively.
  • The goal is to leverage the power of the Black woman’s vote.
    Paula Rogo, Essence.com, 16 Mar. 2018
  • As in the case of the Osage Tribe, some have been able to leverage resources on their land.
    Elizabeth MacBride, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023
  • But the Fed did not say Wells Fargo was over-leveraged.
    Bloomberg, latimes.com, 28 June 2018
  • So what needs to be done to help leverage cross-border telemedicine?
    Nicole Goodkind, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2020
  • But that might not be the best way to leverage the value of that phone and help offset the cost of a new one.
    Jennifer Jolly, USA TODAY, 30 Aug. 2020
  • That is to say, these secrets could be leveraged against him.
    Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, 16 Feb. 2018
  • One set of claims would leverage Pursglove’s rights as a wife.
    Nicholas Confessore, New York Times, 30 Nov. 2016
  • And of course, the couple have leveraged their signature humor in many of the shots.
    Jen Juneau, PEOPLE.com, 24 July 2019
  • Of course, the Fold can leverage its hinge to act as its own tabletop tripod just as well as the Flip can.
    Mike Feibus, USA TODAY, 16 Aug. 2022
  • But having that roadmap that my dad kind of laid out for me, and being able to leverage that.
    James Brown, USA TODAY, 19 June 2022
  • Such a group would be able to leverage its votes as a bloc, giving it greater power.
    James Brooks, Anchorage Daily News, 19 Oct. 2020
  • And so are the drinks, which often leverage more of the local fare in the form of Bols genever and fruited liqueurs.
    Brad Japhe, Travel + Leisure, 9 Apr. 2023
  • That’s a quandary for the mayor, because the bonds would be leveraged through a new property tax.
    David Smiley, miamiherald, 6 Oct. 2017
  • So these grants are leveraged by the companies to invest in their artists.
    Karen Bliss, Billboard, 1 Mar. 2018
  • But Allred learned to leverage the power of media decades ago.
    Katie Van Syckle, The Cut, 23 Jan. 2018
  • That is, people who leverage their celebrity to sell things.
    Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2021
  • The way the ski industry is leveraging its client base will be a template for many.
    Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle, 26 Feb. 2018
  • Once a prospect has been drawn into the top of the sales funnel, there are some great ways to leverage video to tempt them to venture further in.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes, 27 Jan. 2022
  • The commodities unit leveraged that to drum up more business.
    Sridhar Natarajan, Fortune, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Even at the expense of his son’s trust, Frank quickly tries to leverage the ghost into fame and fortune.
    Rodney Ho, ajc, 24 Feb. 2023
  • And the concept is more fleshed out, with ooh-and-ah use cases that leverage the device’s uniqueness.
    Mike Feibus, USA TODAY, 8 Sep. 2020
  • Others have tried to honor Santos, and leverage the tragedy for change.
    Dianne Solis, Dallas News, 22 July 2021
  • Debbie leverages her star power in the ring into a producer role on the show.
    Bonnie Stiernberg, Glamour, 6 July 2018
  • Tsui simply has so much stuff to cleverly dole out and leverage.
    Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, 25 Nov. 2020
  • The city could leverage that money to issue debt that would generate more proceeds on the front end.
    Courtney Astolfi, cleveland, 19 Sep. 2023
  • Crushed by debt, Beatrice was later sold off in a huge leveraged buyout.
    Raymond Zhong, New York Times, 1 June 2018
  • The online retail giant clearly leverages many tools to keep the taxman at bay.
    Salvador Rizzo, chicagotribune.com, 30 Mar. 2018
  • The rope burns around George’s neck have barely begun to heal when Mary sets in motion her plans to further the family’s fortunes by leveraging her second son’s graceful form and sultry good looks.
    Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Apr. 2024
  • The country has been able to leverage some of its $1.6 trillion sovereign wealth fund to provide generous tax breaks to drivers while also beefing up its electric infrastructure.
    Byryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 3 Apr. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'leverage.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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