lead on

verb

Definition of lead onnext
as in to tempt
to lead away from a usual or proper course by offering some pleasure or advantage a con man whose dupes are usually led on by their own greed and eagerness to turn an easy buck

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for lead on
  1. tempt
  2. lure
  3. seduce
  4. persuade
  5. entice
Verb
  • The tax season hadn't even officially started in late December, but the TV ads already began tempting taxpayers with a free pitch to use the TurboTax app.
    Susan Tompor, USA TODAY, 16 Jan. 2025
  • As customers have ploughed their money into short-term deposits, with banks tempted by interest rates above the benchmark rate, speculation has mounted that the central bank might freeze deposits to curb an emerging savings bubble.
    Michael Gfoeller And David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 15 Jan. 2025
Definition of tempt
Verb
  • The badgers are no longer gassed, they are mostly now lured into fields at night and shot by specialist teams of exterminators.
    Anna Russell, The New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2025
  • Geyser, along with her co-defendant Anissa Weier, lured Leutner into the woods during a sleepover in 2014 to play hide-and-seek.
    Samira Asma-Sadeque, People.com, 10 Jan. 2025
Definition of lure
Verb
  • Film The Eternal Becoming of Sofia Coppola Soraya Roberts Like so many of her heroines, the director seduces to control.
    hazlitt.net, hazlitt.net, 4 Jan. 2025
  • Football had already seduced the teenager when the father of a friend, who was the quarterback for the Everett High School team in Massachusetts where Sainristil starred, pulled some union ties for the cemetery job.
    Ben Standig, The Athletic, 3 Jan. 2025
Definition of seduce
Verb
  • In 1932, for example, the American Federation of Musicians persuaded Congress to impose limits on these ad hoc permits under the Musicians Immigration Clarification Act.
    Gabrielle Clark, The Conversation, 14 Jan. 2025
  • Sometimes, for example, rogue loan officers or real estate agents persuade an elderly homeowner to sign false loan documents and keep the proceeds for themselves.
    LEW SICHELMAN, Miami Herald, 14 Jan. 2025
Definition of persuade
Verb
  • Eventually, he was enticed to talk after being offered immunity from prosecution.
    Astha Rajvanshi, NBC News, 14 Jan. 2025
  • The nation’s flight and digital connectivity, coupled with its safe and attractive investment climate, is enticing a growing number of international investors to establish homes on the islands.
    Panorama Media Ltd., Miami Herald, 14 Jan. 2025
Definition of entice
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.

Thesaurus Entries Near lead on

leadoff

lead on

lead one down the garden path

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Lead on.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lead%20on. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

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