leapfrog
Americannoun
-
a game in which players take turns in leaping over another player bent over from the waist.
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an advance from one place, position, or situation to another without progressing through all or any of the places or stages in between.
a leapfrog from bank teller to vice president in one short year.
verb (used with object)
-
leapfrogs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leapfrogged,
past participle, past
-
leapfrogging
present participle
-
to jump over (a person or thing) in or as if in leapfrog.
He leapfrogged the fence to reach the crying child.
-
to move or cause to move as if in leapfrog.
Manufacturers are leapfrogging prices because the cost of raw materials has doubled.
verb (used without object)
-
leapfrogs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leapfrogged,
past participle, past
-
leapfrogging
present participle
noun
verb
-
-
(intr) to play leapfrog
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(tr) to leap in this way over (something)
-
-
to advance or cause to advance by jumps or stages
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
leapfrogsimple
-
leapfrogssimple
-
have leapfroggedperfect
-
has leapfroggedperfect
-
am leapfroggingprogressive
-
are leapfroggingprogressive
-
is leapfroggingprogressive
-
have been leapfroggingperfect progressive
-
has been leapfroggingperfect progressive
Past
-
leapfroggedsimple
-
had leapfroggedperfect
-
was leapfroggingprogressive
-
were leapfroggingprogressive
-
had been leapfroggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of leapfrog
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 104-year-old insurer is attempting to leapfrog its business model into the 21st century with the help of artificial intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
The 104-year-old company’s attempt to leapfrog into the 21st century is running into resistance from its agents and customers alike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
"The industry has to innovate and leapfrog, and not just copy and paste China," he said.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
I like it when incumbents are operating on outdated systems because that creates a substantial opportunity to leapfrog competitors with modern integrated technology.
From MarketWatch ● May 6, 2026
Another leapfrog jump and he sat atop the nine-foot log.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
Intent on ensuring that China leapfrogs the U.S. as the world’s pre-eminent power, Xi Jinping recently made the gutsy and perhaps counterintuitive decision to invest massively in an arena of American strength—basic research.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
Jacks played his two Tests in 2022 and leapfrogs Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson and Jack Leach to provide cover for Shoaib Bashir.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2025
The increase leapfrogs the Fed's 75 basis points increase last month for the largest since central banks began responding to inflation in force earlier this year.
From Reuters ● Jul. 13, 2022
Directed with admirable clarity by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, “Joan” leapfrogs through time to connect the dots that define its restless, ever-questing protagonist.
From New York Times ● Jan. 28, 2019
But Tom was most astonished to see how he fired himself off—snap! like the leapfrogs which you make out of a goose's breastbone.
From Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 2 by Charles Herbert Sylvester
Sadly or maybe justly, the Dodgers have drifted into ineptitude of late, while the Tarik Skubal-less Tigers have suddenly gotten hot and leapfrogged several teams to move into the last wild-card slot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
Anthropic has leapfrogged ahead of rival artificial intelligence developer OpenAI, filing its confidential paperwork for an initial public offering.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
Despite being leapfrogged by Sadia Kabeya, player of the match in the World Cup final, the Saracens forward said she was contracted until June 2026 and felt fitter than ever.
From BBC ● May 9, 2026
From there, we leapfrogged to Venice, then Marina del Rey and finally to Mar Vista, where we bought our second home and planted ourselves like people who understood picket fences.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
Only gradually, as the Bantu multiplied and incorporated cattle and dry-climate cereals into their economy, did they fill in the leapfrogged areas.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
When Venus and Serena were leapfrogging each other early in their careers, often clashing in Grand Slam finals across continents and surfaces, Serena insisted their competition existed in a supportive environment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
First, the court agreed to issue its final judgment in Callais quickly, leapfrogging over the normal period when parties could seek Supreme Court rehearing.
From Slate ● May 13, 2026
“Amazon is effectively solving its FCC deadline problem by acquiring a functioning satellite operator while also leapfrogging into direct-to-device connectivity, a market SpaceX’s Starlink has been targeting,” Wedbush analyst Michael Piccolo wrote Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Apr. 15, 2026
As China’s population shrinks and ages, Beijing is betting on leapfrogging technological advance and innovation to boost productivity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
But by leapfrogging the United States into space, the Russians had turned even local racial policy into fodder for the international conflict.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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.
