Meanings
adjectiveleavenous (comparative more leavenous, superlative most leavenous)
comparative more leavenous · superlative most leavenous
- figurativelyInducing change, especially a corrupting or vitiating change.
For our Religion where was there a more ignorant, profane, and vitious clergy, learned in nothing but the antiquitie of thir pride, thir covetouſnesſs and ſuperſtition; whoſe unſincere and levenous Doctrine corrupting the people, firſt taught them looſneſs, then bondage
1649, J[ohn] Milton, chapter IX, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, pages 79–80
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁lengʷʰ-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁léngʰus
- Proto-Italic*breɣʷisinflu.
- Proto-Italic*leɣʷis
- Latinlevis
- Latinlevō
- Vulgar Latin*levāmen
- Old Frenchlevain
- Middle Englishlevayn
- Englishleaven
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃ed-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃édosder.?
- Englishleavenous
Cite this entry
APA
leavenous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leavenous
MLA
“leavenous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leavenous. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “leavenous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leavenous.
Source: leavenous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.