Follow vs. Lead — What's the Difference?

Go or come after (a person or thing proceeding ahead); move or travel behind

Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin plumbum) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials.

Come after in time or order

Cause (a person or animal) to go with one by holding them by the hand, a halter, a rope, etc. while moving forward

Act according to (an instruction or precept)

Be a route or means of access to a particular place or in a particular direction

Pay close attention to

Be in charge or command of

Practise (a trade or profession).

Have the advantage over competitors in a race or game

To come or go after; proceed behind

Have or experience (a particular way of life)

To go after in pursuit

The initiative in an action; an example for others to follow

To keep under surveillance

A position of advantage in a contest; first place

To move along the course of; take

The chief part in a play or film

To move in the direction of; be guided by

A strap or cord for restraining and guiding a dog or other domestic animal

To lie in the same path as

A wire that conveys electric current from a source to an appliance, or that connects two points of a circuit together.

To be parallel to

The distance advanced by a screw in one turn.

To accept the guidance, command, or leadership of

An artificial watercourse leading to a mill.

To adhere to; practice

A soft, heavy, ductile bluish-grey metal, the chemical element of atomic number 82. It has been used in roofing, plumbing, ammunition, storage batteries, radiation shields, etc., and its compounds have been used in crystal glass, as an anti-knock agent in petrol, and (formerly) in paints.

To take as a model or precedent; imitate

An item or implement made of lead.

To act in agreement or compliance with; obey

Graphite used as the part of a pencil that makes a mark

To keep to or stick to

A blank space between lines of print.

To engage in (a trade or occupation); work at.

To show the way to by going in advance

To come after in order, time, or position

To guide or direct in a course

To bring something about at a later time than or as a consequence of

To serve as a route for; take

To occur or be evident as a consequence of

To be a channel or conduit for (water or electricity, for example).

To watch or observe closely

To guide the behavior or opinion of; induce

To be attentive to; pay close heed to

To direct the performance or activities of

To keep oneself informed of the course, progress, or fortunes of

To inspire the conduct of

To grasp the meaning or logic of; understand

To play a principal or guiding role in

To come, move, or take place after another person or thing in order or time.

To go or be at the head of

To occur or be evident as a consequence; result

To be ahead of

To grasp the meaning or reasoning of something; understand.

To be foremost in or among

(Games) A billiards shot in which the cue ball is struck above center so that it follows the path of the object ball after impact.

To pass or go through; live

(ambitransitive) To go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction, especially with the intent of catching.

To begin or open with, as in games

(ambitransitive) To go or come after in a sequence.

To guide (a partner) in dancing.

(transitive) To carry out (orders, instructions, etc.).

To aim in front of (a moving target).

(transitive) To live one's life according to (religion, teachings, etc).

(Sports) To pass a ball or puck ahead of (a moving teammate) so that the player can receive the pass without changing direction or losing speed.

(transitive) To understand, to pay attention to.

To be first; be ahead.

(transitive) To watch, to keep track of (reports of) some event or person.

To go first as a guide.

To subscribe to see content from an account on a social media platform.

To act as commander, director, or guide.

(ambitransitive) To be a logical consequence of something.

To afford a passage, course, or route

(transitive) To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling.

To tend toward a certain goal or result

In billiards and similar games, a stroke causing a ball to follow another ball after hitting it.

To make the initial play, as in a game or contest.

(social media) The act of following another user's online activity.

To begin a presentation or account in a given way

To go or come after; to move behind in the same path or direction; hence, to go with (a leader, guide, etc.); to accompany; to attend.

To guide a dance partner.

To endeavor to overtake; to go in pursuit of; to chase; to pursue; to prosecute.

To start a dance step on a specified foot.

To accept as authority; to adopt the opinions of; to obey; to yield to; to take as a rule of action; as, to follow good advice.

(Baseball) To advance or stand a few paces away from one's base toward the next while the pitcher prepares to deliver a pitch. Used of a base runner.

To copy after; to take as an example.

(Sports) To begin an attack in boxing with a specified hand or punch

To succeed in order of time, rank, or office.

To cover, line, weight, or fill with lead.

To result from, as an effect from a cause, or an inference from a premise.

(Printing) To provide space between (lines of type) with leads.

To watch, as a receding object; to keep the eyes fixed upon while in motion; to keep the mind upon while in progress, as a speech, musical performance, etc.; also, to keep up with; to understand the meaning, connection, or force of, as of a course of thought or argument.

To secure (window glass) with leads.

To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling.

To treat with lead or a lead compound

To go or come after; - used in the various senses of the transitive verb: To pursue; to attend; to accompany; to be a result; to imitate.

The first or foremost position

The art or process of following; specif., in some games, as billiards, a stroke causing a ball to follow another ball after hitting it. Also used adjectively; as, follow shot.

One occupying such a position; a leader.

To travel behind, go after, come after;

The initiative

Be later in time;

The margin by which one holds a position of advantage or superiority

Come as a logical consequence; follow logically;

Information pointing toward a possible solution; a clue

Travel along a certain course;

An indication of potential opportunity; a tip

Act in accordance with someone's rules, commands, or wishes;

Command; leadership

Come after in time, as a result;

An example; a precedent

Behave in accordance or in agreement with;

The principal role in a film, play, show, or other scripted production.

Be next;

The person playing such a role.

Choose and follow; as of theories, ideas, policies, strategies or plans;

The introductory portion of a news story, especially the first sentence.

To bring something about at a later time than;

An important, usually prominently displayed news story.

Imitate in behavior; take as a model;

The first play.

Follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something;

The prerogative or turn to make the first play

Follow with the eyes or the mind;

A card played first in a round.

Be the successor (of);

(Baseball) An amount of space that a base runner moves or stands away from one base in the direction of the next while the pitcher prepares to deliver a pitch.

Perform an accompaniment to;

(Sports) A blow in boxing that begins a series or exchange of punches.

Keep informed;

A leash.

To be the product or result;

A deposit of gold ore in an old riverbed.

Accept and follow the leadership or command or guidance of;

See lode.

Adhere to or practice;

(Electronics) A conductor by which one circuit element is electrically connected to another.

Work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a specific function;

(Nautical) The direction in which a line runs.

Keep under surveillance;

The distance aimed in front of a moving target.

Follow in or as if in pursuit;

A channel of open water created by a break in a mass of ice.

Grasp the meaning;

Symbol Pb A soft, malleable, ductile, bluish-white, dense metallic element, extracted chiefly from galena and used in containers and pipes for corrosives, solder and type metal, bullets, radiation shielding, paints, glass, storage batteries, and antiknock compounds. Atomic number 82; atomic weight 207.2; melting point 327.5°C; boiling point 1,749°C; specific gravity 11.35; valence 2, 4. See Periodic Table.

Keep to;

Any of various, often graphitic compositions used as the writing substance in pencils.

A thin stick of such material.

Bullets from or for firearms; shot

A lead weight suspended by a line, used to make soundings.

(Printing) A thin strip of metal used to separate lines of type.

Strips of lead used to hold the panes of a window.

Chiefly British A flat roof covered with sheets of lead.

First or foremost

Most important

(uncountable) A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum).

A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or (dated) to estimate velocity in knots.

A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.

Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading.

Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.

(plural leads) A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.

(countable) A thin cylinder of graphite used in pencils. Category:en:Carbon

(slang) bullets; ammunition.

(countable) The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course

(countable) Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; the state of being ahead in a race; the highest score in a game in an incomplete game.

An insulated metallic wire for electrical devices and equipment.

(baseball) The situation where a runner steps away from a base while waiting for the pitch to be thrown.

The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played

The main role in a play or film; the lead role.

(acting) The actor who plays the main role; lead actor.

(business) The person in charge of a project or a work shift etc.

(countable) A channel of open water in an ice field.

A lode.

(nautical) The course of a rope from end to end.

A rope, leather strap, or similar device with which to lead an animal; a leash

In a steam engine, the width of port opening which is uncovered by the valve, for the admission or release of steam, at the instant when the piston is at end of its stroke.

(civil engineering) The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.

(horology) The action of a tooth, such as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet.

Hypothesis that has not been pursued

Information obtained by a detective or police officer that allows him or her to discover further details about a crime or incident.

(marketing) Potential opportunity for a sale or transaction, a potential customer.

Information obtained by a news reporter about an issue or subject that allows him or her to discover more details.

(curling) The player who throws the first two rocks for a team.

(newspapers) A teaser; a lead-in; the start of a newspaper column, telling who, what, when, where, why and how. (Sometimes spelled as lede for this usage to avoid ambiguity.)

An important news story that appears on the front page of a newspaper or at the beginning of a news broadcast

(engineering) The axial distance a screw thread travels in one revolution. It is equal to the pitch times the number of starts.

(music) In a barbershop quartet, the person who sings the melody, usually the second tenor

(music) The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts.

(music) A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others.

(engineering) The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.

(electrical) The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles.

(electrical) The advance of the current phase in an alternating circuit beyond that of the electromotive force producing it.

(transitive) To cover, fill, or affect with lead.

To place leads between the lines of.

To guide or conduct.

To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection.

To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, especially by going with or going in advance of, to lead a pupil; to guide somebody somewhere or to bring somebody somewhere by means of instructions.

(figuratively): To direct; to counsel; to instruct

To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; to command, especially a military or business unit.

To guide or conduct oneself in, through, or along (a certain course); hence, to proceed in the way of; to follow the path or course of; to pass; to spend. Also, to cause (one) to proceed or follow in (a certain course).

(intransitive) To guide or conduct, as by accompanying, going before, showing, influencing, directing with authority, etc.; to have precedence or preeminence; to be first or chief; — used in most of the senses of the transitive verb.

(heading) To begin, to be ahead.

(transitive) To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among.

(intransitive) To lead off or out, to go first; to begin.

(intransitive) To be more advanced in technology or business than others.

(transitive) To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure

(intransitive) To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place.

To produce (with to).

Misspelling of led

(transitive) To live or experience (a particular way of life).

(not comparable) Foremost.

Main, principal, primary, first, chief, foremost.

One of the elements, a heavy, pliable, inelastic metal, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished. It is both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity, and is used for tubes, sheets, bullets, etc. Its specific gravity is 11.37. It is easily fusible (melting point 327.5° C), forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82. Atomic weight, 207.2. Symbol Pb (L. Plumbum). It is chiefly obtained from the mineral galena, lead sulphide.

An article made of lead or an alloy of lead

A small cylinder of black lead or graphite, used in pencils.

The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction; as, to take the lead; to be under the lead of another.

Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; as, the white horse had the lead; a lead of a boat's length, or of half a second.

The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played; as, your partner has the lead.

An open way in an ice field.

A lode.

The course of a rope from end to end.

The width of port opening which is uncovered by the valve, for the admission or release of steam, at the instant when the piston is at end of its stroke.

The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.

The action of a tooth, as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet.

The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts.

In an internal-combustion engine, the distance, measured in actual length of piston stroke or the corresponding angular displacement of the crank, of the piston from the end of the compression stroke when ignition takes place; - called in full lead of the ignition. When ignition takes place during the working stroke the corresponding distance from the commencement of the stroke is called negative lead.

The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.

In spiral screw threads, worm wheels, or the like, the amount of advance of any point in the spiral for a complete turn.

The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles.

A role for a leading man or leading woman; also, one who plays such a role.

The first story in a newspaper or broadcast news program.

An electrical conductor, typically as an insulated wire or cable, connecting an electrical device to another device or to a power source, such as a conductor conveying electricity from a dynamo.

The distance a runner on base advances from one base toward the next before the pitch; as, the long lead he usually takes tends to distract the pitchers.

To cover, fill, or affect with lead; as, continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle.

To place leads between the lines of; as, to lead a page; leaded matter.

To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact or connection; as, a father leads a child; a jockey leads a horse with a halter; a dog leads a blind man.

To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, esp. by going with or going in advance of.

To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; as, to lead an army, an exploring party, or a search; to lead a political party.

To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among; as, the big sloop led the fleet of yachts; the Guards led the attack; Demosthenes leads the orators of all ages.

To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure; as, to lead one to espouse a righteous cause.

To guide or conduct one's self in, through, or along (a certain course); hence, to proceed in the way of; to follow the path or course of; to pass; to spend. Also, to cause (one) to proceed or follow in (a certain course).

To begin a game, round, or trick, with; as, to lead trumps; the double five was led.

To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place; as, the path leads to the mill; gambling leads to other vices.

A soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element; bluish white when freshly cut but tarnishes readily to dull gray;

An advantage held by a competitor in a race;

Evidence pointing to a possible solution;

A position of leadership (especially in the phrase `take the lead');

The angle between the direction a gun is aimed and the position of a moving target (correcting for the flight time of the missile)

The introductory section of a story;

An actor who plays a principal role

(baseball) the position taken by a base runner preparing to advance to the next base;

An indication of potential opportunity;

A news story of major importance

The timing of ignition relative to the position of the piston in an internal-combustion engine

Restraint consisting of a rope (or light chain) used to restrain an animal

Thin strip of metal used to separate lines of type in printing

Mixture of graphite with clay in different degrees of hardness; the marking substance in a pencil

A jumper that consists of a short piece of wire;

The playing of a card to start a trick in bridge;

Take somebody somewhere;

Result in;

Tend to or result in;

Travel in front of; go in advance of others;

Cause to undertake a certain action;

Stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point;

Be in charge of;

Be ahead of others; be the first;

Be conducive to;

Lead, as in the performance of a composition;

Pass or spend;

Lead, extend, or afford access;

Move ahead (of others) in time or space

Cause something to pass or lead somewhere;

Preside over;