as in to tempt
to lead away from a usual or proper course by offering some pleasure or advantage
a con man whose dupes are usually led on by their own greed and eagerness to turn an easy buck
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lead on
Verb
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Users might be tempted to delay applying the update until there’s clarity from Microsoft, but often these reports are only seen afterward.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2025 -
One might be tempted to say that this dismissal is merely another episode in the grotesque sitcom that is Trumpian politics.—
Jack Hill,
Baltimore Sun,
17 May 2025
Verb
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Brooks, in her movies, lures men to their doom—or taunts men with her availability, only to refuse them.—
David Denby,
New Yorker,
23 May 2025
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Video surveillance appeared to show a man with a can of food luring the cat before grabbing the animal and driving away in a white Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.—
Andrew J. Campa,
Los Angeles Times,
22 May 2025
Verb
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Sirens is smartest when paralleling the entitlement of 21st century American wealth with Ancient Greek divinity, skewering the insularity and entitlement of these modern plutocrats who throw galas to honor themselves and to torment or seduce the mortals who are their employees and playthings.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
22 May 2025
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This would suck capital investment back to America in a nanosecond and financially seduce companies to reshore factories, labs and headquarters back here with bargain-low tax rates.—
Stephen Moore,
Boston Herald,
14 May 2025
Verb
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For fifteen years, the Patriotic Millionaires have waged an earnest battle to persuade wealthy people to lobby for higher taxes on themselves.—
Evan Osnos,
New Yorker,
26 May 2025
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The filmmakers told me that Spiegelman’s free-speech run-in with the county school board was instrumental in persuading WNET to back Disaster Is My Muse.—
Daniel Engber,
The Atlantic,
22 May 2025
Verb
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The Navy also has spent considerably more than the others to entice sailors to reenlist, doling out retention bonuses to roughly 70,000 service members for each of the past three years.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
26 May 2025
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Duffy recently announced a sweeping program to upgrade the agency's technology infrastructure, as well as hiring incentives to entice more would-be air traffic controllers.—
Zach Wichter,
USA Today,
23 May 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Lead on.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lead%20on. Accessed 1 Jun. 2025.
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