leaven

Meanings

Noun

• Any agent used to make dough rise or to have a similar effect on baked goods.
• Anything that induces change, especially a corrupting or vitiating change.

Verb

• To add a leavening agent.
• To cause to rise by fermentation.
• To temper an action or decision.
• To imbue; to infect; to vitiate.
• To rise or become larger.

Related

Similar words

• leavening agent, raising agent

Narrower meaning words

• baking powder, yeast

Broader meaning words

• agent, substance

Origin

• From Middle English levayn, borrowed from Old French, from Late Latin levāmen, instead of levāmentum, ultimately from Latin levō ("I raise").