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Glite Dictionary
to lead to

to lead to

∞ 2.5
To cause something to happen, often with bad results
  • phrasal verb
  • /liːd tuː/
translation icon : conducir a
  • Ignoring safety protocols may lead to accidents on the job site.
  • lead to increases
  • lead to greater
  • lead to a reduction

POV again, and it only leads to more questions.

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Examples

  • Lack of sleep often leads to decreased productivity at work.

  • But doing this only leads to collapse for you.

    DoctorRamani

  • So what are the things that lead to bad times?

    Tom Bilyeu

  • Or in this case, how one death - leads to another.

    Ordinary Angels (2024)

  • And they also are things that lead to other mistakes.

  • In some cases, it leads to minor symptoms.

  • Any other line of thinking only leads to disappointment.

    Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014)

  • First, the test has the potential to lead to an early diagnosis of cancer.

    Academic text (2011)

  • That will lead to more infections and will lead to more deaths.

  • Chronic knuckle cracking may lead to reduced grip strength.

    Late Night with Seth Meyers

Synonyms

to cause
vsto lead to
∞ 1.0

To make something happen

can be indirect and often implies a negative outcome
to mean
vsto lead to
∞ 3.5

Lead to a particular result

asserts actual production of an often negative consequence rather than hinting
to lead
vsto lead to
∞ 3.2

To cause something to happen

often ends in a negative or problematic outcome rather than a neutral one
to result
vsto lead to
966 1.6

To happen because of something and lead to an outcome

involves causing or producing an outcome often with negative results

Antonyms

to avoid
∞ 1.0

To stay away from something or not do it to stop something bad from happening

to prevent
∞ 2.3

Stop something from happening or someone from doing it

How Causal

to cause
∞ 1.0
to bring about
203 3.0
to trigger
422 4.2
to lead to
∞ 2.5

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

lead + to

The meaning 'to cause or result in' is directly and compositionally derived from 'lead' (to cause/result in) plus the grammatical marker 'to' indicating the target/outcome, so the verb+to construction transparently signals causation or result. This is a common, cross-linguistic resultative/causative pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Lead to comes from the simple picture of someone leading a group to a place: the leader moves them and they end up somewhere. So when we say one thing leads to another, we mean the first thing 'causes' or 'makes' the second thing happen, often a problem.