Leveling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of smoothing or making a surface flat and even ; the act of reducing disparities in amount, status, or quality among people or things
2. An action that creates an even plane by removing bumps or irregularities ; an effort to make things more equal or uniform across a group or system
3. A method of producing a consistent, horizontal surface by removing height differences ; the act of diminishing variations or imbalances in social, economic, or physical conditions

Etymology: The tool that gave us "level" was a balance. Latin "libra" meant a pair of scales, and its diminutive "libella" meant a little balance, which is how a spirit level's bubble-tube came to be called by the same root. The word passed into English through Old French "livel" (later "nivel" and "niveau"), and "libella" and "niveau" remain doublets of it, two forms from the same source that entered the language by different routes. Middle English had a noun "level" for the instrument, and the verb "levelen" was formed from it, meaning to make something horizontal or even. From that physical sense the word spread outward. Smoothing a ground surface and reducing differences in rank or wealth both rest on the same image: bringing everything to the line a balance-beam makes when it is steady.

Synonyms: flattening, evening, smoothing, equalizing, balancing

Antonyms: raising, elevating, mounting, lifting, upheaving