ENGLISH
REFERENCE

leveling

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈɫɛvəɫɪŋ// lev·el·ing

v. making something flat or even. You use this when you want to describe making two things equal or removing differences between them.

v. the process of making a surface flat or horizontal; metaphorically, the act of reducing disparities between different groups or levels. Present participle of 'level' used as a gerund.


SIMPLE

The workers are leveling the ground for the new house.

CONTEXTUAL

The government is focused on leveling the playing field for small businesses competing against global corporations.

COMPLEX

In historical linguistics, the process of leveling often results in the disappearance of irregular verb forms as they are replaced by more common, regular patterns across the entire paradigm.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Usage

Transitive when describing the physical act of flattening; often used metaphorically in the phrase 'leveling the playing field'.

Pitfall

They are leveling to the groundThey are leveling the groundWhen used to mean flattening a surface, the verb is transitive and does not require a preposition before the object.

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