leaven
To add a leavening agentTo add a leavening agent.
» You shall not eat any thing leavened: in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.
Meaning
5 senses(transitive)To add a leavening agent.
Yeast is used to leaven bread, making it rise during baking.
(transitive)To cause to rise by fermentation.
cause to puff up with a leaven
(figuratively, transitive)To temper an action, decision, attitude, characteristic, etc.
(figuratively, transitive)To imbue; to infect; to vitiate.
The comedian's jokes helped leaven the atmosphere during the serious meeting.
Her optimism seemed to leaven the otherwise tense environment.
To rise or become larger; to prove.
Examples
3 sentencesYou shall not eat any thing leavened: in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.
The people therefore took dough before it was leavened; and tying it in their cloaks, put it on their shoulders.
Unleavened bread shall you eat seven days: there shall not be seen any thing leavened with thee, nor in all thy coasts.
Translations
3 languagesOrigin
From Middle English levayn, borrowed from Old French levain, from Vulgar Latin *levāmen, aFrom Middle English levayn, borrowed from Old French levain, from Vulgar Latin *levāmen, a noun based on Latin levō (“raise”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
leavens, leavening, leavened, leavenedSynonyms
2 synonymsWord family
7 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle