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)
-
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:
Why judge other people for not getting on the property ladder?
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
Mysteriously, he gets the job, though it turns out to be at the very bottom of the ladder — as a copy boy confined to the basement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Although DNA is often pictured as a long, twisted ladder, it does not simply stretch out inside a cell.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
Women who people-please and don't show negative emotion can progress to a certain level on the career ladder, but to make it to the top you need to rock the boat, she argues.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
We went up some stairs, then down some others, along another corridor, then up a ladder!
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
Stewart leaves ladders by his house so any community members who stay behind can reach the roof, and Sierka credits a neighbor for keeping that house standing during Woolsey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
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
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
A builder who can balance items like sheds, ladders and bicycles on his chin is hoping to break a world record.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
The museum’s various levels were comprised of vast caverns linked by a network of subterranean streets, tunnels, staircases, elevators, escalators, ladders, slides, trapdoors, and secret passageways.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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
Allocating some money away from the stock market would make for more diversification — a set of bond funds or a laddered bond portfolio of bonds, for example.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 25, 2025
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
Mr. Johnson promised that if his laddered bill doesn’t work, lawmakers can expect a yearlong stopgap bill.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 11, 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
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