Word.ws English Dictionary

lead by example

lead by example verb: to show the way or demonstrate a technique to individuals or a group by going ahead or doing something before the others.

Verb

lead by example (third-person singular simple present leads by example, present participle leading by example, simple past and past participle led by example)

  1. To show the way or demonstrate a technique to individuals or a group by going ahead or doing something before the others.
    • Ferry said he tries to “lead by example” and advises customers to treat the bones “with the utmost respect,” but JonsBones does not have control over what people do with the bones once they leave the showroom in New York.2021 October 10, Caroline Anders, “A TikTok bone salesman’s wall of spines reignites ethical debate over selling human remains”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 17 Oct 2021
    • He said that with the world facing a climate crisis, "it is up to those at the forefront of our industry - like Network Rail - to lead by example".2023 August 9, “Network News: Network Rail under fire for spending thousands of pounds on flights”, in RAIL, number 989, page 15

Forms of lead by example

third-person singular presentleads by example
present participleleading by example
past participleled by example
pastled by example

Questions about lead by example

What does lead by example mean?
Lead by example means to show the way or demonstrate a technique to individuals or a group by going ahead or doing something before the others.
What part of speech is lead by example?
Lead by example is a verb.
What is the past tense of lead by example?
The past tense of lead by example is led by example.

Words near lead by example in the dictionary

  1. lead acetate
  2. lead around by the nose
  3. lead astray
  4. lead balloon
  5. lead balloons
  6. lead by example
  7. lead by the nose
  8. lead carbonate
  9. lead carbonates
  10. lead chamber process
  11. lead chamber processes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lead by example (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.

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