leaven

It was Thoreau who remarked that “the transcendental philosophy needs the leaven of humor to render it light and digestible,” and one wishes at times that Mr. Nichols wrote with a lighter touch.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Port cities teem with elegant sailing ships, costumes are colorful and pockets of humor and romance leaven the action sequences.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2024

In the evening we will start with the first dough and when it's complete we let it leaven and rise overnight.

From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2023

I found the embellishments that the directors devised — among them classic magic tricks with playing cards and levitation — leaven the play’s more plodding contrivances.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 26, 2023

For one thing, any hopes my father may have had that to meet the General in person would arouse a sense of respect or sympathy to leaven his feelings against him proved without foundation.

From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro

The film leavens its comprehensive pessimism only through the shimmering brilliance of its execution.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026

Whether the songs are presented in their orchestral splendor or as frenetic electronica, each needle drop leavens the natural comedy of John’s frantic awkwardness or captures his chronic sorrow.

From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2025

The yeast is tolerant of this acidic environment, and it ferments carbohydrates other than maltose to produce the carbon dioxide that leavens the bread.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 1, 2023

That boldness and play leavens the stories as well.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2022

I believe because faith is the great want of the age, and it shall remove mountains; I believe because belief is like the pinch of yeast which, being dropped into the dough, leavens the whole.

From A Second Coming by Richard Marsh

To begin with, there’s its ingratiating style, leisurely but leavened with wit and chutzpah, as well as Fiedler’s pervasive disdain for the sentimental and ersatz.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

These sweeping observations are leavened by Mr. Windolf’s countless and often amusing anecdotes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026

The series largely belongs to them — both actors are terrific, Shannon imbuing Garfield with a gravity leavened with kindness and humor, Macfadyen’s Guiteau, optimistically dedicated to his delusions yet always about to pop.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025

Sourdough is the oldest kind of leavened bread in recorded history, and people have been eating it for thousands of years.

From Salon ● Apr. 30, 2024

He had spent the first half of third grade under the tutelage of a teacher named Mr. Carbine, who had leavened the civics lessons with fun facts about presidents.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

That engrossing yourself in every meticulous step — from measuring out your own leavening agents to bringing your butter and eggs to room temperature — is what qualifies as real baking.

From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026

The film’s comedy won’t appeal to all tastes, but some will welcome the leavening effect it has on the movie’s more frightening aspects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025

A corrosive rage courses through this 163-minute odyssey that’s matched by a leavening absurdism, Jude aghast at the comical stupidity of our inauthentic, greed-driven world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2024

The leavening gives the brownies a little lift, which helps them hold their swirl while baking.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 7, 2022

He recorded the moment in his journal, leavening his relief with the one overriding concern that had lent urgency to the work of all the atomic scientists of those years.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik