lead-up

1 of 2

noun

: something that leads up to or prepares the way for something else

lead up

2 of 2

verb

led up; leading up; leads up

intransitive verb

1
: to prepare the way
2
: to make a gradual or indirect approach to a topic

Examples of lead-up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The new dad teased that viewers may see the lead-up to the birth of his son, Theodore in season 3. Natalia Senanayake, Peoplemag, 4 Apr. 2024 The lead-up to a court-martial, and all related pretrial records, are never made public by the Navy. Megan Rose, ProPublica, 3 Apr. 2024 Charli is keeping her energy high in the lead-up to the summer release with two new singles and the complete Brat tracklist. Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 3 Apr. 2024 This is precisely what Macron tried to do in the lead-up to Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine. Daniel Depetris, The Mercury News, 21 Mar. 2024 It’s set in the lead-up to his debut runway show in September of last year. Vogue, 20 Mar. 2024 Authorities released body-camera footage Wednesday showing the lead-up to deputies shooting and killing a 15-year-old boy with autism who was charging at a deputy with a large gardening tool, in a case that has sparked outrage. Ben Brasch, Washington Post, 14 Mar. 2024 During the lead-up to Brilla’s launch, in 2013, volunteers posted up outside a local McDonald’s to pitch families on enrolling. Emma Green, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024 Germany Long-time broadcaster partner ProSieben will again host the Oscars, live-streaming the awards and the lead-up to the event, kicking off with red carpet arrivals at 9:30 PM local time on Sunday, March 10, on its VOD service Joyn. Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Mar. 2024
Verb
Prosecutors are arguing that even if Fisher were to invalidate the law for himself and others, it could still be applied to Trump because of the other things that Trump is accused of doing leading up to, and on January 6th. Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2024 The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the United States added 3.3 million immigrants last year and will add another 3.3 million in 2024, up sharply from the 900,000 that was typical in the years leading up to the pandemic. Jeanna Smialek, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2024 Here is everything Simpson said about cancer leading up to his death. Virginia Chamlee, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024 Detectives were looking for witnesses and spoke with people who were at the home when officers arrived to determine the circumstances that led up to the fatal shooting. Robert A. Cronkleton, Kansas City Star, 11 Apr. 2024 Records from the weeks leading up to the day Méndez executed the agreement show a steady stream of text communications between the city attorney and lobbyist Melissa Tapanes, who represented developer Michael Stern. Tess Riski, Miami Herald, 11 Apr. 2024 This is the second of 11 positional breakdowns leading up to the NFL Draft (April 25-27). Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Apr. 2024 While eclipse tourists tended to stagger their arrivals during the weekend leading up to the event, many departed roughly at the same time after the eclipse ended on Monday afternoon, clogging highways and local roads. Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 9 Apr. 2024 Cloudy weather nearly ruined Hillsboro’s day in the dark In the days leading up to the eclipse, the National Weather Service was tracking cloudy skies for Central and North Texas. Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Apr. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lead-up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1942, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1861, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of lead-up was in 1861

Dictionary Entries Near lead-up

Cite this Entry

“Lead-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lead-up. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

lead up

verb
: to make a gradual approach to a topic
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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