to lead up to
92
3.8
- phrasal verb
- /liːd ʌp tuː/
:
llevar a
- My entire life has been leading up to this very moment.
- events leading up to
- months leading up to
- elections leading up to
This was like the dreaded day that led up to the actual goodbye.
- This was like the dreaded day that led up to the actual goodbye.
- They walk you through their schedule leading up to that date.
- Can you tell the story of the months that led up to Barry's assassination?
- So like, it is a sunny Friday leading up to the weekend.
- Actually, I'll give you context leading up to that and then what happened since then.
- And then you go and you're like, wow, the fear leading up to this was so much greater.
- I think like all this, all the anticipation leading up to it is like making it worse.
- And we tend to see abandonment anger in the day leading up to a departure.
Examples
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What I need to know is what you experienced in the days leading up to it.
-
Mr. Whitaker, I want to talk about the days leading and the hours leading up to the accident.
-
A lot of that happened leading up to it and the week before.
-
Now what was it like leading up to your release finally in prison?
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Months of planning had led up to this.
-
It took weeks of planning to lead up to the big event, but it was well worth it.
-
Israeli planes were in the air continuously in the days leading up to the war.
Academic text (1993) -
Our journey began when we were stationed at a training camp in Essex, England in the weeks leading up to D-Day.
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Everything I've done has been strategic to lead up to this very moment.
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Can you describe her state of mind in the days leading up to the accident?
Synonyms
∞
2.5
To cause something to happen, often with bad results
9
3.6
Move on to a higher level after getting better
Antonyms
How Gradual
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to gradually develop or progress towards' is directly derivable from combining 'lead' (to cause or result in) with the directional/gradual sense of 'up' plus the target-marking 'to'. This compositional relation is common cross-linguistically and follows a standard English verb + particle + preposition pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the parts is likely to infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrasal verb lead up to comes from the image of lead meaning 'to guide' and up to meaning 'toward a point', like someone being guided step by step to a door or a stage. So when events lead up to something, they slowly build and move toward that event or 'result'.