as in tempting
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
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Recent Examples of leading on
And, a year ago, Republicans were the ones leading on the congressional ballot, showing just how much the landscape has shifted in Democrats' favor.
—
Domenico Montanaro, NPR, 9 Feb. 2026
Being Different means standing apart - leading on innovation and setting trends.
—Steven Wolfe Pereira, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026
Off the back of a super five years for video game IP, Ampere searched through the gaming archives leading on eight key characteristics to come up with its list.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 5 Jan. 2026
Formichetti has previously held roles at Mugler, Diesel and Uniqlo, leading on artistic and creative direction.
—Vogue Business Team, Vogue, 4 Nov. 2025
America, after years of leading on tech and economic growth, is cutting itself off from global trade to protect manufacturing jobs few actually want to do.
—Renaud Foucart, Time, 28 Sep. 2025
Ramps leading on and off the interstate.
—Idaho Statesman, 13 Aug. 2025
Domenico Montanaro, NPR, 9 Feb. 2026
Being Different means standing apart - leading on innovation and setting trends.
—Steven Wolfe Pereira, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026
Off the back of a super five years for video game IP, Ampere searched through the gaming archives leading on eight key characteristics to come up with its list.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 5 Jan. 2026
Formichetti has previously held roles at Mugler, Diesel and Uniqlo, leading on artistic and creative direction.
—Vogue Business Team, Vogue, 4 Nov. 2025
America, after years of leading on tech and economic growth, is cutting itself off from global trade to protect manufacturing jobs few actually want to do.
—Renaud Foucart, Time, 28 Sep. 2025
Ramps leading on and off the interstate.
—Idaho Statesman, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for leading on
Verb
-
As Mercury stations retrograde in your sign, confidence wavers and old narratives resurface, tempting you to retreat or overexplain.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
3 Feb. 2026
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Instead of women tempting men with vice, now the great fear is that women will tempt men with virtue.—
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
The Atlantic,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Both Kelly and Landfair were adamant about their love, and a 17-year-old Landfair was so deep under her abuser’s spell that her parents had no hope of successfully luring her away from Kelly.—
Cheyenne Roundtree,
Rolling Stone,
31 Jan. 2026
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If the crisp, cold weather is luring you into a secluded, comfortable hideaway, Amazon’s tiny home collection is a good place to start.—
Julia Morlino,
Travel + Leisure,
31 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In the complaint, which was first filed in September in a North Carolina state court, plaintiff Heather Ammel accused Sinema of seducing her ex-husband Matthew Ammel, who began working for Sinema in April 2022 as part of her security detail.—
Chad de Guzman,
Time,
16 Jan. 2026
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In Arthur Penn’s 1975 neo-noir Night Moves, Griffith is Delly Grastner, a 16-year-old runaway with a little girl’s voice and a grown woman’s body—on full display in an underwater nude scene—intent on seducing Gene Hackman, 43 and paunchy.—
Lili Anolik,
Vanity Fair,
12 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The lengths to which users have gone to try to keep GPT-4o alive, whether by persuading the company to keep it online or by preserving it themselves, speak to the importance the chatbot has taken in the lives of some of its users, potentially because of the nature of human psychology.—
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez,
Fortune,
10 Feb. 2026
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In other words, if Warsh were to succeed in persuading his colleagues on the Board and FOMC in slimming down the Fed — something not at all sure given the limited power of the Chair — there would be difficult tradeoffs.—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
8 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Leading on.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/leading%20on. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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