deleveraging

noun

1. the act or process of paying off or reducing debt; a decreasing of financial leverage.

verb (used without object), de·lev·er·aged, de·lev·er·ag·ing.

1. to decrease financial leverage by paying off debt: Their balance sheet significantly improved after they deleveraged.

verb (used with object), de·lev·er·aged, de·lev·er·ag·ing.

2. to reduce the debt of: He drastically deleveraged the company to make it profitable.

noun

3. an instance of this: The economic crisis has forced a deleverage.

verb

1. finance (of an organization) to reduce the ratio of debt capital to equity capital