Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈliːdɪŋ/Category:English 2-syllable words#LEADINGCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LEADING
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlidɪŋ/Category:English 2-syllable words#LEADINGCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LEADING

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#LEADING
• Rhymes: -iːdɪŋCategory:Rhymes:English/iːdɪŋ#LEADINGCategory:Rhymes:English/iːdɪŋ/2 syllables#LEADING
• Hyphenation: lead‧ing

Verb

leadingCategory:English non-lemma forms#LEADINGCategory:English verb forms#LEADINGCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LEADINGCategory:Pages with entries#LEADINGCategory:Pages with 1 entry#LEADING

1. present participle and gerund of lead
   • 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:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LEADING

Adjective

leading (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#LEADINGCategory:English adjectives#LEADINGCategory:English uncomparable adjectives#LEADINGCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LEADINGCategory:Pages with entries#LEADINGCategory:Pages with 1 entry#LEADING

1. Providing guidance or direction.

   Avoid leading questions if you really want the truth.Category:English terms with usage examples#LEADING

2. Ranking first.

   He is a leading supplier of plumbing supplies in the county.Category:English terms with usage examples#LEADING

3. Occurring in advance; preceding.

   Antonyms: following, lagging, trailing

   The stock market can be a leading economic indicator.Category:English terms with usage examples#LEADING

   • 2025 July 9, Oliver Wheeler, “Action stations...”, in RAIL, number 1039, page 68:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LEADING

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈliːdɪŋ/Category:English 2-syllable words#LEADINGCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LEADING
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlidɪŋ/Category:English 2-syllable words#LEADINGCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LEADING

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#LEADING
• Rhymes: -iːdɪŋCategory:Rhymes:English/iːdɪŋ#LEADINGCategory:Rhymes:English/iːdɪŋ/2 syllables#LEADING
• Hyphenation: lead‧ing

Noun

leading (plural leadings)Category:English lemmas#LEADINGCategory:English nouns#LEADINGCategory:English countable nouns#LEADINGCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LEADINGCategory:Pages with entries#LEADINGCategory:Pages with 1 entry#LEADING

1. An act by which one is led or guided.
   • 1792, William Carey, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the‎:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LEADING

   • 1892, Walt Whitman, “A Song for Occupations”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, stanza 5, page 175:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LEADING

   • 1904, Edward Dowden, Robert Browning‎:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LEADING

2. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#LEADING) Command of an army or military unit.
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     Art thou but Captaine of a thouſand horſe,
     That by Characters grauen in thy browes,
     And by thy martiall face and ſtout aſpect,
     Deſeru’ſt to haue the leading of an hoſte?

     Category:English terms with quotations#LEADING

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛdɪŋ/Category:English 2-syllable words#LEADINGCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LEADING
• Rhymes: -ɛdɪŋCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛdɪŋ#LEADINGCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛdɪŋ/2 syllables#LEADING
• Hyphenation: lead‧ing

Noun

leading (uncountable)Category:English lemmas#LEADINGCategory:English nouns#LEADINGCategory:English uncountable nouns#LEADINGCategory:English uncountable nouns#LEADINGCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LEADINGCategory:Pages with entries#LEADINGCategory:Pages with 1 entry#LEADING

1. (typographyCategory:en:Typography#LEADING) Vertical space added between lines; line spacing.

   Hypernym: white space