Word.ws English Dictionary

leads on

leads on is the third-person singular simple present indicative of lead on.

Meaning of lead on

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To mislead, to try to make someone believe a lie.
    • "But when I fell into the mistake I have so long remained in, at least you led me on?" said I. / "Yes," she returned, again nodding steadily, "I let you go on."1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter V, in Great Expectations […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 73
    1. (idiomatic, transitive) To encourage with the illusion of a romantic relationship.
      • I thought she really loved me but really she was just leading me on.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lead, on.

Questions about leads on

What is leads on the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Leads on is the third-person singular simple present indicative of lead on.

Words near leads on in the dictionary

  1. leads by the nose
  2. leads from the front
  3. leads in
  4. leads nowhere
  5. leads off
  6. leads on
  7. leads out
  8. leads someone down the garden path
  9. leads someone up the garden path
  10. leads the charge
  11. leads the line

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leads on (page history and authors); lead on (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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Cite this entry: “leads on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/leads_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.