Leading Meaning
/ˈliːdɪŋ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbpresent participle and gerund of lead
adjProviding guidance or direction.
Sentence Examples
The staircase leading to the rooftop is narrow, steep, and dark.
The future of English seems to be leading in three directions.
The report was compiled by Germany's five leading economic research institutes.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Heart disease is the ____ cause of death in the United States.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The university is a ____ institution in the field of medical research, attracting top students from all over.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English ledinge, ledynge, ledand, ledande, ledende, from Old English lǣdende, from Proto-West Germanic *laidijandī, from Proto-Germanic *laidijandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to lead”), equivalent to lead + -ing. Compare West Frisian liedend, Dutch leidend, German leitend, Swedish ledande, Icelandic leiðandi.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"Passengers on the earliest railway services would not even have enjoyed the luxury of a platform, instead having to step up onto the waiting open top wagons, where they would experience a journey that left many choking on the plumes of smoke exhaled by the leading locomotive."
— 2025 July 9, Oliver Wheeler, “Action stations...”, in RAIL, number 1039, page 68:
"It has been said that we ought not to force our way, but to wait for the openings, and leadings of Providence; but it might with equal propriety be answered in this case, neither ought we to neglect embracing those openings in providence which daily present themselves to us."
— 1792, William Carey, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the:
"I do not affirm that what you see beyond is futile, I do not advise you to stop, / I do not say leadings you thought great are not great, / But I say that none lead to greater than these lead to."
— 1892, Walt Whitman, “A Song for Occupations”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, stanza 5, page 175:
"In his poetic method each writer followed the leadings of his own genius, without reference to common rules and standards; the individualism of the Revolutionary epoch asserted itself to the full."
— 1904, Edward Dowden, Robert Browning:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Heart disease is the ____ cause of death in the United States.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The university is a ____ institution in the field of medical research, attracting top students from all over.