ladder
Americannoun
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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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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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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 corporate ladder just doesn’t appeal to me anymore.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
Here, a filmmaker who managed to reach the peak of Olympus makes the prideful, ill-fated decision to hoist a ladder toward the stars, trying to get even higher, past where even the Gods can see.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
Three years after becoming an MP, she got a foot on the ministerial ladder as a junior social security minister and was then promoted to the employment brief.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
It was the fourth consecutive World Cup in which the U.S. has gone out in the final 16, a rung on the tournament ladder the Americans have gotten past just once in 96 years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
A ladder was bolted to the wall and disappeared into a hole in the ceiling.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
The research that discovered this truth about bond ladders was first presented in a 2015 article, “Bond Ladders and Rolling Yield Convergence.”
From MarketWatch ● May 22, 2026
Lakpa Sherpa, an expedition operator and veteran climber, said airlift technology was used to support rope-fixing teams by delivering ropes, ladders, snow bars and food during critical phases.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
In the face of a slow job market, rising housing costs and career ladders that increasingly resemble waiting rooms, starting a business before you need a job flips the equation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
I used to drive an older Camry and it got to the point where I was crossing ladders through the passenger seat and I popped the spraycan in the backseat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
Then handed me up a series of makeshift ladders into a loft above another loft in the barn where I am now.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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
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
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
Build off your initial ideas by interacting with others, combining ideas and laddering up the benefits scale.
From Forbes ● Apr. 16, 2014
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.
