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Glite Dictionary
to lead on

to lead on

24 6.0
To make someone think you want a relationship or a future with them when you do not
  • phrasal verb
  • /liːd ɒn/
  • Informal
translation icon : dar falsas esperanzas
  • If I have led you on in any way...
  • want to lead on
  • lead the guy on
  • lead people on

When you tease and flirt for attention only you will lead people on and you will not get the best alignment of women.

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Examples

  • You shouldn't feel bad about leading me on.

    12 Days of Christmas (2020)

  • If you had gone out with the guy, it was assumed you had "led him on."

    Blog text (9)

  • Feel like I led him on.

    The Big Year (2011)

  • Just lead him on and bring him to us.

    Fire Birds (1990)

  • Others were upset with the coach for "leading them on" during the recruitment process.

    Academic text (1992)

  • But, at the same time, you don't want to lead him on.

    The Paperboy (1994)

  • You shouldn't have led her on.

    Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

  • The next night there'd be someone else he was leading on.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • You've been leading me on all along, haven't you?

    The Prankster (2010)

  • You shouldn't lead on people if you're not interested in them.

Synonyms

to lure
vsto lead on
270 3.7

To get someone to do something by offering a reward or making false promises

focuses on creating false personal hope rather than enticing action
to deceive
vsto lead on
270 3.9

To make someone believe something that is not true to get an advantage

is about giving false hopeful expectations specifically about relationships or prospects
to delude
vsto lead on
48 6.3

Make someone believe something that is not true

targets false hope about future or relationships rather than general belief
to tease
vsto lead on
  • NSFW
39 3.5

To make someone feel excited or curious without telling them more

deliberately gives false hope to mislead about relationship or future
to put one over on
vsto lead on
  • Informal
4 7.9

To trick someone into believing something false

uses deliberate false hope in personal matters rather than general trickery
to cozen
vsto lead on
  • Archaic
1 9.9

To trick someone to get their money or things

aims at giving false emotional hope rather than financial or material gain

How Deceptive

to deceive
270 3.9
to lead on
  • Informal
24 6.0
to string someone along
  • Informal
17 7.5
to mislead
87 3.9

Surface Forms

lead on infinitive
leading on present participle
leads on third person singular
led on past
led on past participle

Morphology

lead + on

The combination of 'lead' (to guide) with the particle 'on' suggests continuing or encouraging someone, so a learner might infer a sense of guiding or keeping someone going. However, the specific idiomatic nuance of deliberately giving false hope or deceiving is not fully predictable from the parts, making the expression partially but not wholly transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The phrasal verb lead on comes from the image of one person guiding another forward—the first person leads the second on a path toward something that isn't really there. So if the goal is only pretend, the guided person is tricked or given false hope, and the phrase means 'to deceive someone or give them false hope'.