Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive & intransitive verb To make or become steep or steeper.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To become steep.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To become steep or steeper.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To make steeper.
  • verb To become steeper.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb become steeper
  • verb make steeper

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

steep +‎ -en

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Examples

  • So far as he can tell, as his maps had indicated, the river narrows and deepens as the hills steepen a kay or so east of where the force rests.

    Scion of Cyador Modesitt, L. E. 2000

  • "If the QE is successful, yields go up and steepen, which is what we saw in previous rounds," said Alessandro Mercuri, an interest-rate strategist at Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets in London.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • One thing that helped bolster performance was a well-timed wager that the yield curve, or spectrum of bond yields from the shortest to longest issues, would steepen, meaning short-term rates would fall in relation to long-term rates.

    Evergreen Dodges Mortgage-Backed Bullet 2007

  • A general improvement in nutrition and other home circumstances might tend to 'steepen' the polygon of variation, i.e. to bring more children near the normal, or it might increase the number of children with exceptional inherited cleverness who were able to reveal that fact, and so 'flatten' it; and either case might make a change desirable in the best proportion between the types of schools or even in the number of the types.

    Human Nature in Politics Third Edition Graham Wallas 1895

  • Nomura expects further weakness in Treasurys—and for the yield curve to steepen—now that the market's biggest buyer has closed up shop for the year.

    Treasurys Hold Gains After U.S. Data Cynthia Lin 2011

  • After the "excessive dovishness" of the central bank, "we would expect the DI curve to steepen" said Barclays Capital, referring to the overnight interest-rate futures contracts, "as markets price in more inflationary risks with limited interest-rate reaction."

    Brazil Bank Warns of Possible Rate Cut Paulo Winterstein 2012

  • Joe Balestrino , senior portfolio manager and chief market strategist at Federated Investors, said the fund is braced for inflation to pick up and is selling long-term Treasurys as a way to bet that the yield curve will steepen.

    U.S. Debt Gets Recalibrated Cynthia Lin 2012

  • "Further actions to adjust the Fed's portfolio toward holding longer-dated securities could help ensure that the yield curve does not steepen," the report said.

    OECD Warns U.S. at Risk of Recession Eric Morath 2011

  • The current weakness of American trade unions makes the power gradient operating against labor here already steep, and Republican governors now want to steepen it more.

    David Coates: Defending Trade Unions as Labor Day Approaches David Coates 2011

  • The current weakness of American trade unions makes the power gradient operating against labor here already steep, and Republican governors now want to steepen it more.

    David Coates: Defending Trade Unions as Labor Day Approaches David Coates 2011

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