leading

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of lead

   “I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.”

adj

1. (not-comparable)Providing guidance or direction.

   “Avoid leading questions if you really want the truth.”

2. (not-comparable)Ranking first.

   “He is a leading supplier of plumbing supplies in the county.”

3. (not-comparable)Occurring in advance; preceding.

   “The stock market can be a leading economic indicator.”

   “Passengers on the earliest railway services would not even have enjoyed the luxury of a platform, instead having to step up onto the waiting open top wagons, where they would experience a journey that left many choking on the plumes of smoke exhaled by the leading locomotive.”

noun

1. An act by which one is led or guided.

   “It has been said that we ought not to force our way, but to wait for the openings, and leadings of Providence; but it might with equal propriety be answered in this case, neither ought we to neglect embracing those openings in providence which daily present themselves to us.”

   “I do not affirm that what you see beyond is futile, I do not advise you to stop, / I do not say leadings you thought great are not great, / But I say that none lead to greater than these lead to.”

   “In his poetic method each writer followed the leadings of his own genius, without reference to common rules and standards; the individualism of the Revolutionary epoch asserted itself to the full.”

2. (archaic)Command of an army or military unit.

   “Art thou but Captaine of a thouſand horſe, That by Characters grauen in thy browes, And by thy martiall face and ſtout aſpect, Deſeru’ſt to haue the leading of an hoſte?”

3. (uncountable)Vertical space added between lines; line spacing.