led up; leading up; leads up
Examples of lead-up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Óscar Martínez, The Dial, 30 Apr. 2026
The suspect in the weekend shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner has agreed to remain detained in the lead-up to his trial.
—Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026
Grace Hase, Mercury News, 25 Apr. 2026
Court records point to mounting financial pressure and significant debt leading up to the action.
—Bonny Chu, FOXNews.com, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for lead-up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
That week, nobody talked about anything but the lead-up to the big challenge in which Bukele and La Choly would see who could withstand the jolts of that bumpy musical fairground ride, which tries to shake off its passengers.
—Óscar Martínez, The Dial, 30 Apr. 2026
The suspect in the weekend shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner has agreed to remain detained in the lead-up to his trial.
—Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026
Verb
His campaign said in a news release that $250,000 of that was raised in the days leading up to and immediately after this week’s debate.
—Grace Hase, Mercury News, 25 Apr. 2026
Court records point to mounting financial pressure and significant debt leading up to the action.
—Bonny Chu, FOXNews.com, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for lead-up
Cite this Entry
“Lead-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lead-up. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
lead up
verb
: to make a gradual approach to a topic
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
