ladder
Syllables: lad·derUK/ˈlad.ə//ˈlæd.ɚ/
ladder noun: a frame, usually portable, of wood, metal, or rope, used for ascent and descent, consisting of two side pieces to which are fastened rungs (cross strips or rounds acting as steps).
Noun
ladder (plural ladders)
- A frame, usually portable, of wood, metal, or rope, used for ascent and descent, consisting of two side pieces to which are fastened rungs (cross strips or rounds acting as steps).
- The form of a man was seen to enter, and both the females rushed up the ladder, as if equally afraid of the consequences. The stranger secured the door, and first examining the lower room with great care, he cautiously ascended the ladder.1851, J[ames] Fenimore Cooper, “Chapter XXIII”, in The Pathfinder; or, The Inland Sea … Complete in One Volume. Revised and Corrected, with a New Introduction, Notes, &c., by the Author (The...
- Ladders are heavy and unwieldy. Handle them properly to avoid damaging property and to make sure you don't injure yourself. Carry a ladder upright, not slung across your shoulder. Hold the ladder vertically, bend your knees slightly, then rock the ladder back against your shoulder. Grip one rung...2009, Albert Jackson, David Day, Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-To, rev. edition, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Books, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 31
- Synonyms:
- stepladder
- A series of stages by which one progresses to a better position.
- Newcastle had won both their previous fixtures in 2011 but were terribly disappointing at Broadhall Way against opponents 73 places below them in the footballing ladder.2011 January 8, Paul Fletcher, “Stevenage 3 – 1 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2016
- The hierarchy or ranking system within an organization, such as the corporate ladder.
- Many publicly held companies do have good working conditions, but they often employ mostly high-wage workers or offer different levels of working conditions and benefits to management employees than to workers at the bottom of the ladder.2010, Jody Heymann, Magda Barrera, Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder: Creating Value by Investing in Your Workforce, Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Press, →ISBN, page 6
- A length of unravelled fabric in a knitted garment, especially in nylon stockings; a run.
- Proposed Standard of Needlework to be required from Pupil-teachers at the Yearly Visits of Her Majesty's Inspectors. […] Darning Stockings.—To show a hole darned, and a thin place "run" (or strengthened), and a ladder properly taken up in a coarse worsted stocking.1875, Report of the Committee of Council on Education (England and Wales); with Appendix. 1874–75. Report, and Parts I. to IV. of Appendix. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her...
- You've got a huge ladder in your stockings. I've got a spare pair in my bag, come to the Ladies and you can change.2008, Åsa Larsson, translated by Marlaine Delargy, The Black Path, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Dell, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- run
- A sequence of moves following a zigzag pattern and ultimately leading to the capture of the attacked stones.
- The most dramatic introduction to the idea of how stones relate to each other over distance is how players react when a ladder (shicho, "she-ko"^([sic]) in Japanese) [シチョウ (shichō)] develops. […] Ouch! This is finding out about the ladder, which is called that because of the steplike shape that the...2003, Peter Shotwell, Go! More Than a Game, Boston, Mass.: Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN
- A league table.
Verb
ladder (third-person singular simple present ladders, present participle laddering, simple past and past participle laddered)
- To arrange or form into a shape of a ladder.
- And employing the innate gift for mimicry he'd always had – a gift which had made his father roar with laughter even when he was tired and feeling down – Jack 'did' Morgan Sloat. Age fell into his face as he laddered his brow the way Uncle Morgan's brow laddered into lines when he was pissed off...1984, Stephen King, Peter Straub, The Talisman, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press/G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN
- By means of repeated bifurcations, [Carl] Linnaeus provided a five-tier botanic hierarchy. He laddered the plant kingdom downward from classes to orders, genera, species, and varieties.1999, Lisbet Koerner, Linnaeus: Nature and Nation, Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 15
- To ascend (a building, a wall, etc.) using a ladder.
- The Rochdale climber spoken of once fell 70 feet from a mill at Linfitts, owing to an accident while he was laddering. He was terribly hurt, but recovered, and still carries on his trade with unshaken nerve.1896, Chambers's Journal, Edinburgh; London: W. & R. Chambers, →OCLC, page 367
- A good working knowledge of the ladder parts, how they work, their capacities, and proper usage are a must before anyone is sent out to ladder a building.1998, John Norman, Fire Officer's Handbook of Tactics, 2nd edition, Saddle Brook, N.J.: Fire Engineering, →ISBN, page 164
- Of a knitted garment: to develop a ladder as a result of a broken thread.
- Oh damn it, I've laddered my tights!
- He slid his hand up her skirt and murmured in her ear. / "Robert, I've just got dressed. Stop it." […] / He laddered her stocking and smudged her lipstick, but she had time to repair the damage before they went out.1993, Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong, London: Hutchinson, ISBN 978-0-09-177373-1; republished as Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, June 1997, ISBN 978-0-679-77681-9, page...
- To close in on a target with successive salvos, increasing or decreasing the shot range as necessary.
- For eighteen minutes Revenge pounded the dockyard area at an average range of 15,700 yards, spreading for line and laddering for range to a prearranged plan to cover the whole target area.2007, Peter Smith, Naval Warfare in the English Channel: 1939-1945, page 134
- Laddering made it possible to get a few hits on a fast-moving, often manoeuvring, target.2014, Norman Friedman, Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns & Gunnery
- To corruptly coerce a convicted offender to admit to offences to be taken into consideration which they do not actually believe they committed, as a way to artificially increase the rate of solved crimes.
ladder meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
ladder in Hindi
- climbing tool
- सीढ़ी sīṛhī
ladder in Tamil
- climbing tool
- ஏணி ēṇi
ladder in Marathi
- climbing tool
- शिडी śiḍī
ladder in Urdu
- climbing tool
- سِیڑْھی sīṛhī
More languagesFewer languages
- ladder in Bengali
- মই moi
- ladder in Telugu
- నిచ్చెన niccena
- ladder in Malayalam
- ഏണി ēṇi
- ladder in Kannada
- ಏಣಿ ēṇi
- ladder in Punjabi
- ਪੌੜੀ pauṛī
- ladder in Gujarati
- નિસરણી nisarṇī, સીડી sīḍī, દાદરો dādro
- ladder in Assamese
- জখলা zokhola
- ladder in Pashto
- زينه zēna
- ladder in Tagalog
- akyatan, hagdan
- ladder in Arabic
- سُلَّم sullam
- ladder in Malay
- tangga
- ladder in Indonesian
- tangga, jenjang
- ladder in Thai
- กระได grà-dai
- ladder in Vietnamese
- thang
- ladder in Myanmar
- လှေကား hleka:
Examples of ladder in a sentence
- Carry a ladder upright, not slung across your shoulder.2009, Albert Jackson, David Day, Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-To, rev. edition, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Books, Sterling Publishing...
- And why wouldn't I just turn around, not take a chance on the bad luck of walking under a ladder?2014, Linda O. Johnston, Lost under a Ladder, Woodbury, Minn.: Midnight Ink, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN:
- This is finding out about the ladder, which is called that because of the steplike shape that the defending stones are forced into.2003, Peter Shotwell, Go! More Than a Game, Boston, Mass.: Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN:
- Age fell into his face as he laddered his brow the way Uncle Morgan's brow laddered into lines when he was pissed off about something.1984, Stephen King, Peter Straub, The Talisman, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press/G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN:
Synonyms of ladder
Forms of ladder
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ladders |
| alternative form (dialectal) | ledder |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ladders |
| present participle | laddering |
| past participle | laddered |
| past | laddered |
Origin of ladder
Inherited from Middle English ladder, laddre; from Old English hlǣder, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaidriju, from Proto-Germanic *hlaidrijō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlóydʰrom, from *ḱley- (“to lean”). Compare Scots ledder, North Frisian ladder, Saterland Frisian Laadere, West Frisian ljedder, Dutch ladder, German Leiter; also Old Irish clithar (“hedge”), and Umbrian 𐌊𐌋𐌄𐌈𐌓𐌀𐌌 (kleθram, “stretcher”). See lean, which is related to lid. Further cognates include Ashkun istrī, Kamkata-viri c̣ik, Prasuni čik, čix; Waigali c̣iř, Sanskrit श्रिति (śrití).
Words formed from ladder
- accommodation ladder
- aerial ladder
- angel's ladder
- Appalachian Jacob's ladder
- attic ladder
- Cantril ladder
- chain-ladder method
- chicken ladder
- chutes and ladders
- climb the ladder
- climb up the ladder
- coin ladder
- companion ladder
- corporate ladder
- crossed ladders problem
- DNA ladder
- downladder
- fail up the ladder
- fare ladder
- fish ladder
- hook ladder
- interladder
- Jacob's ladder
- ladderane
- ladder back
- ladderback
- ladder-back
- ladder beam
- laddered
- laddergram
- ladder handle
- laddering
- ladderize
- ladder-laced
- ladder lacing
- ladderless
- ladderlike
- ladder logic
- ladder lottery
- ladderman
- ladder match
- ladder mate
- Ladder of Jacob
- ladder of opportunity
- ladder operator
- ladder polyether
- ladder school
- ladder snake
- ladder stitch
- ladder theory
- laddertron
- ladder wagon
- ladder wall
- ladderway
- ladderwise
- laddery
- loft ladder
- monkey ladder
- on the ladder
- peg ladder
Phrases with ladder
- rope ladder
- step ladder
- word ladder
- ladder backs
- ladder beams
- ladder mates
- ladder walls
- tower ladder
- witch ladder
- ladder snakes
- pencil ladder
- salmon ladder
36 more phrasesFewer phrases
- social ladder
- ladder handles
- ladder matches
- ladder schools
- scaling ladder
- Swedish ladder
- witch's ladder
- ladder stitches
- property ladder
- resistor ladder
- witches' ladder
- ladder lotteries
- ladder operators
- turntable ladder
- climbs the ladder
- ladder polyethers
- climbed the ladder
- pull up the ladder
- climbing the ladder
- fails up the ladder
- pulls up the ladder
- climbs up the ladder
- failed up the ladder
- pulled up the ladder
- climbed up the ladder
- failing up the ladder
- pulling up the ladder
- climbing up the ladder
- pull the ladder up after oneself
- pull the ladder up behind oneself
- pulls the ladder up after oneself
- pulled the ladder up after oneself
- pulls the ladder up behind oneself
- pulled the ladder up behind oneself
- pulling the ladder up after oneself
- pulling the ladder up behind oneself
Words that rhyme with ladder
Questions about ladder
- What does ladder mean?
- Ladder means a frame, usually portable, of wood, metal, or rope, used for ascent and descent, consisting of two side pieces to which are fastened rungs (cross strips or rounds acting as steps).
- What is ladder in Hindi?
- Ladder in Hindi is सीढ़ी (sīṛhī). See Ladder meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use ladder in a sentence?
- Carry a ladder upright, not slung across your shoulder.
- What part of speech is ladder?
- Ladder can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ladder?
- Ladder is pronounced /ˈlad.ə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ladder?
- The plural of ladder is ladders.
Words near ladder in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ladder (page history and authors); દાદરો (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ladder.ogg, en-au-ladder.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ladder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ladder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.