LEADS Synonyms: 206 Similar and Opposite Words

leads 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of lead

as in steers

to point out the way for (someone) especially from a position in front an enthusiastic docent led our group through the art museum

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Relevance

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as in commands

to serve as leader of a senior programmer is leading the team that is developing the new accounting software

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as in accompanies

to be at the front of the local high school's marching band led the parade

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as in extends

to be positioned along a certain course or in a certain direction this old road leads to an abandoned quarry

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as in guides

to give advice and instruction to (someone) regarding the course or process to be followed the salesclerk led us through the maze of options now available to television buyers

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leads

2 of 2

noun

plural of lead

as in principals

the person who has the most important role in a play, movie, or TV show the actor's career has really taken off since he became the lead in that prime-time drama

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as in distances

the space or amount of space between two points, lines, surfaces, or objects the runner maintained a lead of several meters all the way around the track

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as in tips

a piece of advice or useful information especially from an expert my sister got a lead on the job opening from her neighbor, who is the human resources director for the company

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as in clues

a slight or indirect pointing to something (as a solution or explanation) the police are now working on several leads generated by the evidence gathered at the crime scene

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of leads

Verb

Even the pace car, which leads the field through several warm-up laps prior to the start of the race and also leads the field during caution periods to slow the cars on the track, drives at about 110 mph. —

Keith Laing, USA Today, 24 May 2026 Out West, reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City leads San Antonio 2-1 after overcoming a 15-0 Game 3 start. —

Greg Cote may 24, Miami Herald, 24 May 2026 Gaspar leads in campaign contributions, followed by Worth Girvan. —

Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2026 In many cases, this leads passengers to forget their pocket-sized items after grabbing their main bags. —

Jillian Dara, Travel + Leisure, 23 May 2026 The furor leads even Herold to despair. —

Jeremy Fugleberg, Twin Cities, 23 May 2026 Cuypers, who leads MLS with 13 goals this season, snapped his string of consecutive appearances with a goal at 10 games — the third longest in league history. —

ABC News, 23 May 2026 Otto López doubled in the third and leads the majors with 69 hits. —

CBS News, 23 May 2026 Competitive districts — where a candidate leads a challenger by fewer than 10 percentage points — are increasingly rare. —

Ashley Wu, New York Times, 18 May 2026

Noun

Best actress honors were also shared, between French actress Virginie Efira and Japan’s Tao Okamoto, who play the leads in Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s emotional drama All of a Sudden. —

Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 23 May 2026 Miramar Police declined multiple requests for interviews but told CBS News Miami the department recently assigned a new detective to Butler Lebel's case and brought in the Florida attorney general's Cold Case Squad to help develop new leads. —

Chelsea Jones, CBS News, 23 May 2026 The agency declined multiple requests for interviews but told CBS News Miami the department recently assigned a new detective to Butler Lebel’s case and brought in the Florida attorney general’s Cold Case Squad to help develop new leads. —

Chelsea Jones, Miami Herald, 23 May 2026 Two of the three leads were already familiar to TF1 audiences; the third, Romain, was discovered through a daily entertainment program. —

Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 22 May 2026 Soon enough, both were cast as the leads of the steamy romance Off Campus. —

Kenneal Patterson, Vanity Fair, 22 May 2026 North Carolina's plan creates a hub-and-spoke model that allots money to six large regional leads, including nonprofits such as Access East. —

Sarah Jane Tribble, NPR, 22 May 2026 In 2023, the Virginia Beach Police Department received grant funding that allowed investigators to pursue forensic genealogy leads, Wyatt said. —

Emily Shapiro, ABC News, 20 May 2026 By improving the quality of leads entering the pipeline, agencies protect their acquisition costs while law firms allocate resources more effectively, focusing on cases with stronger evidence and higher likelihood of moving forward. —

Arnold Sotelo, Forbes.com, 20 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for leads

Verb

In this specific case, the system is called the Bermuda high, a semipermanent area of high pressure hanging out over the Atlantic Ocean to the east of North America that is also one of the atmospheric features that steers summer hurricanes.

— Andrea Thompson, Scientific American, 19 May 2026
The state’s local control funding formula, passed in his first term, steers more money to schools with more low-income, English-learner and foster students.

— Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 May 2026