ladder
Americannoun
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ladders
plural
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a structure of wood, metal, or rope, commonly consisting of two sidepieces between which a series of bars or rungs are set at suitable distances, forming a means of climbing up or down.
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something resembling this.
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a means of rising, as to eminence.
the ladder of success.
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a graded series of stages or levels in status; a hierarchical order of position or rank.
high on the political ladder.
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Nautical. companionway.
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Chiefly British. a run in a stocking.
verb (used with object)
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ladders,
present (3rd person singular)
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laddered,
past participle, past
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laddering
present participle
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to climb or mount by means of a ladder.
to ladder a wall.
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to furnish with a ladder.
to ladder a water tower.
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Chiefly British. to cause a run in (a stocking).
verb (used without object)
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ladders,
present (3rd person singular)
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laddered,
past participle, past
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laddering
present participle
-
Chiefly British. to get a run, as in a stocking.
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to gain in popularity or importance.
He laddered to the top of his profession.
noun
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a portable framework of wood, metal, rope, etc, in the form of two long parallel members connected by several parallel rungs or steps fixed to them at right angles, for climbing up or down
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any hierarchy conceived of as having a series of ascending stages, levels, etc
the social ladder
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anything resembling a ladder
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( as modifier )
ladder stitch
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Also called: run. a line of connected stitches that have come undone in knitted material, esp stockings
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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laddersimple
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ladderssimple
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have ladderedperfect
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has ladderedperfect
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am ladderingprogressive
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are ladderingprogressive
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is ladderingprogressive
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have been ladderingperfect progressive
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has been ladderingperfect progressive
Past
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ladderedsimple
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had ladderedperfect
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was ladderingprogressive
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were ladderingprogressive
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had been ladderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ladder
First recorded before 1000; Middle English ladder(e), Old English hlǣd(d)er; cognate with German Leiter, Dutch leer (also ladder, from Frisian); akin to Gothic hleithra “tent, hut”; originally, “something that slopes or leans”; see also lean 1
Explanation
If your ball lands on the roof, grab a ladder and climb up and get it. A ladder has steps you use to reach up high. If you climb the corporate ladder, you’re moving up in the business world. Some ladders are just a few feet tall, and others are taller than a house. Still others are invisible –- any time you move up in your career as a banker or NFL football player, you climb the ladder. In British English, a ladder is a run in stockings, which is funny because it usually looks like one. The superstition that it's bad luck to walk under an open ladder dates from the eighteenth century.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The ladder leads to a grueling work schedule and a work title that doesn’t cover rent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Doing so rearranged the energy ladder, producing different patterns that matched predictions from the tricritical Ising theory.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
She has moved up the ladder, representing clients facing charges ranging from petty theft to homicide as well as special-circumstances cases.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
When Natasha Parcell first got her foot on the property ladder little did she expect to be one of the latest victims of the cladding crisis.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
And then, in the distance, the figure in silhouette has descended the ladder and is packing up his toolbox.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
You’re right that standing up all day is tough, even if you’re not lugging boxes to and from the warehouse or climbing ladders and risking your health to help a customer or to restock shelves.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Inside the shop, the walls are lined with neatly organized shovels, pickaxes, and ladders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Much of the focus on AI’s impact on work has highlighted jobs—how corporate ladders will be structured and how staff might be reduced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Some species may have acted as fire ladders, helping flames move through the landscape while also crowding out and smothering other vegetation.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
In the space of ten minutes, they packed their paint, ladders, brushes, and tarps, and loaded them into the bed of Zeitoun’s truck.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
The key point for her, though, is that MYGAs can be laddered, just like CDs and Treasurys.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
BDC managers tell Barron’s that public debt is just one part of their financing structure and that their debt is laddered with staggered maturities.
From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 2026
A dramatic musical score—like something out of a Marvel movie—plays loudly over clips of officers entering the windows of the garrisoned building, climbing on their laddered megatruck, and breaking the locks to the doors.
From Slate ● May 4, 2024
Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland Republican, pitched the idea of a laddered approach to draw in those who are leery of voting for a stopgap bill.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 9, 2023
His hand on the thin and laddered ribs.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
Calamos uses a strategy called laddering to try and manage this downside risk.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
We might start by adopting “relatively low-risk actions and laddering up boldness from there.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
When we talked two years ago before all this happened, the investment was really in gaming, and that was laddering into creators.
From The Verge ● Dec. 21, 2021
There are loads of ways to draw down your portfolio, including with annuities, bond laddering and simply selling off financial assets piecemeal.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 15, 2018
I was a scholarship boy at the time, busily laddering my way up the rungs of education.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
