lead off
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To be the first batter of an inning.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lehdawfSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɛˈdɔf
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
baseball
To be the first batter of an inning.
by extension
To be the first of any set, especially the first person in a group to speak; to launch or begin something by speaking.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lead, off.
noun
baseball
The first batter in the batting order.
baseball
The first batter of an inning.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To be the first batter of an inning.
Used this way, lead off is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a sporting use: familiar to anyone who follows the game, and puzzling to anyone who does not.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Sports
- News/reporting
- Everyday conversation
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.