ladder
A frame, usually portable, of wood, metal, or rope, used for ascent and descent, consisting of two side pieces to which are fastened rungs (cross strips or rounds acting as steps).
Noun 4 meanings
A frame, usually portable, of wood, metal, or rope, used for ascent and descent, consisting of two side pieces to which are fastened rungs (cross strips or rounds acting as steps).
A series of stages by which one progresses to a better position.
The hierarchy or ranking system within an organization, such as the corporate ladder.
A length of unravelled fabric in a knitted garment, especially in nylon stockings; a run.
Verb 4 meanings
To arrange or form into a shape of a ladder.
To ascend (a building, a wall, etc.) using a ladder.
Of a knitted garment: to develop a ladder as a result of a broken thread.
“Oh damn it, I've laddered my tights!”
To corruptly coerce a convicted offender to admit to offences to be taken into consideration which they do not actually believe they committed, as a way to artificially increase the rate of solved crimes.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English ladder, laddre; from Old English hlǣder, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaidriju, from Proto-Germanic *hlaidrijō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlóydʰrom, from *ḱley- (“to lean”).
Similar and opposite words
LADDER at a glance
LADDER has 6 letters and scores 8 points in Scrabble (L 1 + A 1 + D 2 + D 2 + E 1 + R 1) and 9 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #6,696 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with ladder
All rhymes- UNDER6
- ORDER6
- CONSIDER11
- LEADER7
- WONDER10
- OLDER6
- MURDER9
- BORDER9
- GENDER8
- HARDER10
- COMMANDER16
- SHOULDER12
One letter away
- LANDER7
- SADDER8
- LAUDER7
- MADDER10
- LARDER7
- BADDER10
- PADDER10
- RADDER8
- LADLER7
- GADDER9
- WADDER11
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