ladder Hear it!

ladder Definition

lad·der (lad′ər)

noun

    1. a framework consisting of two parallel sidepieces connected by a series of rungs or crosspieces on which a person steps in climbing up or down
    2. Naut. any staircase or vertical set of steps
  2. anything by means of which a person climbs or rises
  3. a rising series of steps, stages, or levels the ladder of success
  4. Chiefly Brit. a run as in a stocking

Etymology: ME < OE hlæder, akin to Ger leiter < IE base *lei-, to incline, lean

transitive verb, intransitive verb

Chiefly Brit. to have or cause to have a ladder, or run

ladder Synonyms

ladder

n.

stairway, step-stool, steps, scale; see stairs.

Ladders include: stepladder, rope ladder, ship's ladder, stern ladder, accommodation ladder, fireman's scaling ladder, extension ladder, companionway, collapsing ladder, folding ladder, fire ladder, hook ladder, Jacob's ladder, gangway, fire escape, standing ladder.

ladder Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • climb: Don't climb the ladder with your stages on.
  • ascend: But as you ascend the ladder, look out below where you tread.
  • descend: Leave the cave and descend the ladder, now head right and cross the bridge goin up.
  • lean: Can the leaning ladder be secured at the top?

Adjective modifier

  • analgesic: The concept of WHO analgesic ladder, obviously, needs to be modified in such pain emergencies.
  • retractable: Landing With retractable ladder giving access to a partly boarded loft with light point.
  • telescopic: It's also the world's first truly telescopic loft ladder.
  • sturdy: The vessel is provided with a sturdy dive ladder which allows reasonable access from the water back onto her deck.
  • fixed: A fixed metal ladder leads up to a small rooftop terrace with lovely estuary views.
  • wooden: Keep wooden ladders clear of the ground to avoid contact with damp.

Modifies a noun

  • stile: Once over the ladder stile you are in a Nature Reserve.
  • rung: Sometimes the DNA ladder rungs get mixed up or even lost.
  • climber: An antidote to the Property Porn on TV, and a cautionary tale for starry-eyed would-be property ladder climbers.
  • pitch: Here, a 9m ladder pitch in a rift on the left leads to a 28m wet pitch, rigged for SRT.

Noun used with modifier

  • loft: The most cost effective loft ladders are sliding loft ladders.
  • rope: The Lady Awoken by strange noises, he saw Isabel being helped down a rope ladder, by a figure in Highland costume.
  • career: Contact: Graduate Team First step on the career ladder?
  • escape: I want to fit an escape ladder on a balcony or over a railing.
  • property: I suspect these are the survivors of negative equity, fallen forever from the property ladder.
  • housing: Club Together An obvious way to get on to the housing ladder is to join forces with a friend or relative.
ladder Quotes

You can't climb up to the second floor without a ladder. When you set your aim too high and don't fulfil it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. Try for a goal that's reasonable, and then gradually raise it. That's the only way to get to the top.

—Zatopek, Emil

The business of a general is to kick away the ladder behind soldiers when they have climbed up a height.

—SunTzu

And he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Now that my ladder's gone, I must lie down where all the ladders start, In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.

—Yeats,W(illiam) B(utler)

To write music is to raise a ladder without a wall to lean it against. There is no scaffolding: the building under construction is held in balance only by the miracle of a kind of internal logic, an innate sense of proportion.

—Honegger, Arthur

Ayear passed; a year of art and dissipationöone part art, two parts dissipation.We mounted and descended at pleasure the rounds of society's ladder.

—Moore, George

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky; It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by; Foreverynight attea-timeand before youtakeyourseat, With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.

—Stevenson, Robert Louis

Browse dictionary entries near ladder

  1. ‹ ladanum
  2. ‹ lad
  3. ‹ lacy
  4. ‹ lacustrine
  5. ‹ lacunose
  6. ‹ lacunar
  7. ‹ lacuna
  8. ‹ lactose
  9. ‹ lactoprotein
  10. ‹ lactone
  1. ladder-back chair ›
  2. ladder option ›
  3. ladder stitch ›
  4. ladder truck ›
  5. laddering ›
  6. laddie ›
  7. lade ›
  8. laden ›
  9. -laden ›
  10. Ladies' ›