leading

English

Etymology 1

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈliːdɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlidɪŋ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːdɪŋ
• Hyphenation: lead‧ing

Verb

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.

Adjective

leading (not comparable)

1. Providing guidance or direction.

   Avoid leading questions if you really want the truth.

2. Ranking first.

   He is a leading supplier of plumbing supplies in the county.

3. Occurring in advance; preceding.

   Antonyms: following, lagging, trailing

   The stock market can be a leading economic indicator.

Coordinate terms

• (occurring in advance): concurrent, lagging

Derived terms

• leading indicator
• leading woman

Translations

providing guidance

Bulgarian: водещ (bg) (vodešt), ръководен (bg) (rǎkovoden) Finnish: johdatteleva German: führend (de) Italian: principale (it) Russian: веду́щий (ru) (vedúščij), руководя́щий (ru) (rukovodjáščij), наводя́щий (ru) (navodjáščij) (question) Spanish: principal (es) Swedish: ledande (sv)

ranking first

Finnish: johtava (fi) Greek: κορυφαίος (el) (koryfaíos) Italian: principale (it), primo (it), maggiore (it) Plautdietsch: fierent Russian: веду́щий (ru) (vedúščij) Swedish: ledande (sv)

preceding

Finnish: edeltävä (fi) German: vorangehend (de), vorausgehend (de), führend (de) Italian: precedente (it) Italian: precedente (it)

Etymology 2

From Middle English leding, ledyng, ledinge, ledunge, equivalent to lead +‎ -ing. Cognate with Dutch leiding (“conduit, leading, guidance, leadership”), German Leitung (“line, conduit, cable”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈliːdɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlidɪŋ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːdɪŋ
• Hyphenation: lead‧ing

Noun

leading (plural leadings)

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.

   • 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.

   • 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.

2. (archaic) Command of an army or military unit.
   • c. 1587–1588, [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?

Etymology 3

From Middle English leedynge, equivalent to lead (chemical element) +‎ -ing; so named because in metal typesetting (letterpress and hot metal typesetting), pieces of lead (slugs, strips, blocks, etc) were often the mechanical means of producing the gap.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛdɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɛdɪŋ
• Hyphenation: lead‧ing

Noun

leading (uncountable)

1. (typography) Vertical space added between lines; line spacing.

   Hypernym: white space

Translations

Vertical space added between lines

Chinese: Mandarin: 行距 (zh) (hángjù) Czech: proklad řádků Esperanto: linipaŝo Finnish: rivivälistys French: interligne (fr) m German: Zeilenabstand (de) m, Interlinea f, Zeilendurchschuss (de) m, Durchschuss (de) m Greek: διάστιχο (el) n (diásticho) Hungarian: sorköz (hu) Indonesian: interlini Irish: scaradh m Italian: interlinea (it) f Japanese: インテル (interu) Korean: 행간 (ko) (haenggan) Polish: leading (pl) m Portuguese: entrelinha f, espaçamento entre linhas m Russian: интерлиньяж (ru) m (interlinʹjaž) Spanish: entrelínea f Swedish: radavstånd (sv) n Welsh: rhynglinellu

Further reading

• leading on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Negidal, adeling, aligned, dealign, dealing, diangle, lagenid, leidang