I. BEING AHEAD OR TAKING SOMEONE SOMEWHERE
(~s, ~ing, led)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Please look at category 21 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If you ~ a group of people, you walk or ride in front of them.
John Major and the Duke of Edinburgh led the mourners...
He walks with a stick but still ~s his soldiers into battle...
Tom was ~ing, a rifle slung over his back.
VERB: V n, V n prep/adv, V
2.
If you ~ someone to a particular place or thing, you take them there.
He took Dickon by the hand to ~ him into the house...
Leading the horse, Evandar walked to the door.
VERB: V n prep/adv, V n
3.
If a road, gate, or door ~s somewhere, you can get there by following the road or going through the gate or door.
...the doors that led to the yard.
...a short roadway ~ing to the car park...
VERB: V prep/adv, V prep/adv
4.
If you are ~ing at a particular point in a race or competition, you are winning at that point.
He’s ~ing in the presidential race...
So far Fischer ~s by five wins to two...
Aston Villa last led the League in March 1990.
VERB: V, V by amount, V n
5.
If you have the ~ or are in the ~ in a race or competition, you are winning.
England took the ~ after 31 minutes with a goal by Peter Nail...
Labour are still in the ~ in the opinion polls.
N-SING: the N, oft in/into the N
6.
Someone’s ~ over a competitor at a particular point in a race or competition is the distance, amount of time, or number of points by which they are ahead of them.
...a commanding ~ for the opposition is clearly emerging throughout the country...
His goal gave Forest a two-goal ~ against Southampton...
Sainz now has a ~ of 28 points.
N-SING: with supp, oft N over n
7.
If one company or country ~s others in a particular activity such as scientific research or business, it is more successful or advanced than they are in that activity.
When it comes to pop music we not only ~ Europe, we ~ the world.
...foodstores such as Marks & Spencer, which led the market in microwaveable meals.
VERB: V n, V n in n
8.
If you ~ a group of people, an organization, or an activity, you are in control or in charge of the people or the activity.
Mr Mendes was ~ing a campaign to save Brazil’s rainforest from exploitation.
VERB: V n
9.
If you give a ~, you do something new or develop new ideas or methods that other people consider to be a good example or model to follow.
The American and Japanese navies took the ~ in the development of naval aviation...
Over the next 150 years, many others followed his ~.
N-COUNT: usu supp N
10.
You can use ~ when you are saying what kind of life someone has. For example, if you ~ a busy life, your life is busy.
She led a normal, happy life with her sister and brother...
VERB: V n
11.
If something ~s to a situation or event, usually an unpleasant one, it begins a process which causes that situation or event to happen.
Ethnic tensions among the republics could ~ to civil war...
He warned yesterday that a pay rise for teachers would ~ to job cuts.
VERB: V to n, V to n
12.
If something ~s you to do something, it influences or affects you in such a way that you do it.
His abhorrence of racism led him to write The Algiers Motel Incident...
What was it ultimately that led you to leave Sarajevo for Zagreb?
VERB: V n to-inf, V n to-inf
13.
If you say that someone or something led you to think something, you mean that they caused you to think it, although it was not true or did not happen.
Mother had led me to believe the new baby was a kind of present for me...
It was not as straightforward as we were led to believe.
VERB: V n to-inf, V n to-inf
14.
If you ~ a conversation or discussion, you control the way that it develops so that you can introduce a particular subject.
After a while I led the conversation around to her job...
He planned to ~ the conversation and keep Matt from changing the subject.
VERB: V n adv/prep, V n
15.
You can say that one point or topic in a discussion or piece of writing ~s you to another in order to introduce a new point or topic that is linked with the previous one.
Well, I think that ~s me to the real point.
= bring
VERB: V n to n
16.
A ~ is a piece of information or an idea which may help people to discover the facts in a situation where many facts are not known, for example in the investigation of a crime or in a scientific experiment.
The inquiry team is also following up possible ~s after receiving 400 calls from the public.
N-COUNT
17.
The ~ in a play, film, or show is the most important part in it. The person who plays this part can also be called the ~.
Nina Ananiashvili and Alexei Fadeyechev from the Bolshoi Ballet dance the ~s...
The ~s are Jack Hawkins and Glynis Johns.
N-COUNT
18.
A dog’s ~ is a long, thin chain or piece of leather which you attach to the dog’s collar so that you can control the dog. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use leash )
An older man came out with a little dog on a ~.
N-COUNT
19.
A ~ in a piece of equipment is a piece of wire covered in plastic which supplies electricity to the equipment or carries it from one part of the equipment to another.
N-COUNT
20.
The ~ story or ~ in a newspaper or on the television or radio news is the most important story.
The Turkish situation makes the ~ in tomorrow’s Guardian...
Cossiga’s reaction is the ~ story in the Italian press.
N-SING: oft N n
21.
to ~ someone astray: see astray
one thing led to another: see thing
to ~ the way: see way
see also ~ing , -led
II. SUBSTANCES
(~s)
1.
Lead is a soft, grey, heavy metal.
...drinking water supplied by old-fashioned ~ pipes.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
The ~ in a pencil is the centre part of it which makes a mark on paper.
N-COUNT