Adjacent Words

Leader definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LE'ADER, n.
1. One that leads or conducts; a guide; a conductor.
2. A chief; a commander; a captain.
3. One who goes first.
4. The chief of a party or faction; as the leader of the whigs or of the tories; a leader of the Jacobins.
5. a performer who leads a band or choir in music.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a person who rules or guides or inspires others [ant: follower]
2: a featured article of merchandise sold at a loss in order to draw customers [syn: drawing card, loss leader, leader]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 14th century 1. something that leads: as a. a primary or terminal shoot of a plant b. tendon, sinew c. plural dots or hyphens (as in an index) used to lead the eye horizontally ; ellipsis 2 d. chiefly British a newspaper editorial e. (1) something for guiding fish into a trap (2) a short length of material for attaching the end of a fishing line to a lure or hook f. loss leader g. something that ranks first h. a blank section at the beginning or end of a reel of film or recorded tape 2. a person who leads: as a. guide, conductor b. (1) a person who directs a military force or unit (2) a person who has commanding authority or influence c. (1) the principal officer of a British political party (2) a party member chosen to manage party activities in a legislative body (3) such a party member presiding over the whole legislative body when the party constitutes a majority d. (1) conductor c (2) a first or principal performer of a group 3. a horse placed in advance of the other horses of a team • leaderless adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a a person or thing that leads. b a person followed by others. 2 a the principal player in a music group or of the first violins in an orchestra. b US a conductor of an orchestra. 3 Brit. = leading article. 4 a short strip of non-functioning material at each end of a reel of film or recording tape for connection to the spool. 5 (in full Leader of the House) Brit. a member of the government officially responsible for initiating business in Parliament. 6 a shoot of a plant at the apex of a stem or of the main branch. 7 (in pl.) Printing a series of dots or dashes across the page to guide the eye, esp. in tabulated material. 8 the horse placed at the front in a team or pair. Derivatives: leaderless adj. leadership n. Etymology: OE lædere (as LEAD(1))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Leader Lead"er, n. 1. One who, or that which, leads or conducts; a guide; a conductor. Especially: (a) One who goes first. (b) One having authority to direct; a chief; a commander. (c) (Mus.) A performer who leads a band or choir in music; also, in an orchestra, the principal violinist; the one who plays at the head of the first violins. (d) (Naut.) A block of hard wood pierced with suitable holes for leading ropes in their proper places. (e) (Mach.) The principal wheel in any kind of machinery. [Obs. or R.] --G. Francis. (f) A horse placed in advance of others; one of the forward pair of horses. He forgot to pull in his leaders, and they gallop away with him at times. --Hare. (g) A pipe for conducting rain water from a roof to a cistern or to the ground; a conductor. (h) (Fishing) A net for leading fish into a pound, weir, etc.; also, a line of gut, to which the snell of a fly hook is attached. (i) (Mining) A branch or small vein, not important in itself, but indicating the proximity of a better one. 2. The first, or the principal, editorial article in a newspaper; a leading or main editorial article. 3. (Print.) (a) A type having a dot or short row of dots upon its face. (b) pl. a row of dots, periods, or hyphens, used in tables of contents, etc., to lead the eye across a space to the right word or number. Syn: chief; chieftain; commander. See Chief.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(leaders) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. The leader of a group of people or an organization is the person who is in control of it or in charge of it. We now need a new leader of the party and a new style of leadership... We are going to hold a rally next month to elect a new leader. N-COUNT: usu N of n, n N 2. The leader at a particular point in a race or competition is the person who is winning at that point. The world drivers' championship leader crossed the line ahead of the Swede. N-COUNT 3. The leader among a range of products or companies is the one that is most successful. Procter & Gamble is the leader in the mass market cosmetics industry. N-COUNT 4. A leader in a newspaper is a piece of writing which gives the editor's opinion on an important news item. (BRIT; in AM, use editorial) N-COUNT 5. A leader in a newspaper is the most important story in it. (AM; in BRIT, use lead, lead story) N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Guide, director, conductor, corypheus, choregus. 2. Chief, chieftain, commander. 3. Superior, victor, dominator, corypheus, cock of the walk, ruler of the roost, first fiddle.

Moby Thesaurus

A per se, AG, DA, KC, Kapellmeister, Mahdi, QC, SSC, US attorney, ace, analysis, ancestor, announcer, antecedent, article, article of commerce, article of merchandise, attorney general, avant-garde, band leader, band major, bandmaster, bell cow, bell mare, bellwether, bidet, big cheese, big wheel, big-timer, bigwig, bone of contention, born leader, boss, buccinator, bushwhacker, captain, carriage horse, cart horse, catechism, cavalry horse, chairman, champion, charismatic leader, chief, chieftain, choirmaster, choragus, civilian, cock, commandant, commander, comment, commentary, commentation, commodity, conductor, corporation lawyer, coryphaeus, court-appointed lawyer, criminal lawyer, critical review, criticism, critique, cross-interrogatory, cross-question, dean, debating point, defense counsel, demand, dignitary, director, district attorney, doyen, doyenne, draft horse, dray horse, driving horse, drug, drum major, duce, editorial, eminence, explorer, feature, feeler, file leader, fill horse, filler, forebear, foregoer, foreman, forerunner, front runner, frontiersman, fugleman, gaffer, general, genius, gigster, gloss, groundbreaker, guide, hack, hackney, harbinger, head, headman, herald, hierarch, high priest, higher-up, honcho, hunter, important person, innovator, inquiry, inspired leader, interrogation, interrogative, interrogatory, issue, item, jument, junior counsel, kingfish, kingpin, laureate, law agent, lead, lead item, lead runner, leader of men, leading article, leading card, leading question, lion, loss leader, luminary, main feature, manager, master, messenger, messiah, moot point, mount, mouthpiece, nonpareil, notability, notice, number one, orchestra leader, pacemaker, pacesetter, pack horse, palfrey, paragon, pathfinder, personage, pilot, pioneer, plow horse, point, point at issue, point in question, pole horse, polo pony, post-horse, precedent, precentor, precursor, predecessor, principal, private attorney, problem, prodigy, product, prosecuting attorney, prosecutor, public prosecutor, publicist, query, question, question at issue, question mark, quodlibet, rector, remark, remount, report, review, rider, riding horse, ringleader, road horse, roadster, rouncy, ruler, running commentary, saddle horse, saddler, scout, seconds, senior, shaft horse, silk, silk gown, solicitor general, special, special pleader, stalking-horse, standard article, standard-bearer, staple, staple item, star, stormy petrel, straw boss, stuff gown, stuff-gownsman, sumpter, sumpter horse, superintendent, superior, superman, superstar, symphonic conductor, the greatest, the most, thill horse, thiller, top dog, topic, torchbearer, trailblazer, trailbreaker, trial balloon, vanguard, vaunt-courier, vendible, vexed question, virtuoso, voortrekker, ware, wheeler, wheelhorse, workhorse, write-up