ledger

noun

led·​ger ˈle-jər 

plural ledgers

1

a

: a book containing accounts to which debits and credits are posted from books of original entry

Psmith, perched gracefully on a stool, entered figures in a ledger.

—P. G. Wodehouse

b

: a digital record that is used similarly to an accounting ledger (as for maintaining a list of transactions)

Williams said he also recovered a ledger spreadsheet on a laptop computer seized from Wright and a "key" to translate the ledger.

—Scott Dolan

specifically : blockchain

NFTs use blockchain, the technology ledger backing cryptocurrencies …, which are databases of linked information to record ownership or transactions of a product.

—Weston Blasi

The original idea behind Provenance was to provide transparency, proof of loan performance, provenance—reliable information about who owned or owns an asset at any given time—lower costs and easier audits for loan buyers and sellers through distributed ledger technology.

—Penny Crosman

2

: a horizontal board used for vertical support (as in scaffolding)

I'd rather see joists resting on a ledger, spiked to the girders or to the house through spacers.

—Jim Locke

Examples of ledger in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Sports executives rarely come out ahead, at least on the ledger of public perception. —Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 21 Apr. 2026

For lower-income Americans, the ledger may be in the red. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2026

For just the fifth time in 20 games so far this season, the Dodgers came out on the wrong end of the ledger, losing 4-3 to the Colorado Rockies on Saturday before a blue-and-purple crowd of 47,925 at Coors Field. —Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 2026

The Kings snuck into the postseason with six fewer points than the Calgary Flames missed with last year, a decidedly negative ledger (-22) and poor performance on both sides of the special-teams coin. —Andrew Knoll, Daily News, 18 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English lygger, leger large breviary, beam, probably from leyen, leggen to lay

First Known Use

1588, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing ledger

• ledger line

Rhymes for ledger

• dredger
• edger
• hedger

Kids Definition

ledger

noun

led·​ger ˈlej-ər 

: a book in which accounts are kept in final form