different between leading vs foremost

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ledinge, ledynge, ledand, ledande, ledende, from Old English l?dende, from Proto-Germanic *laidijandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *laidijan? (“to lead”), equivalent to lead +? -ing. Cognate with German Leitung (“lin, conduit, cable”). More at lead.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?li?d??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?lid??/
• Rhymes: -i?d??
• Hyphenation: lead?ing

Verb

leading

1. present participle of lead

Adjective

leading (not comparable)

1. Providing guidance or direction.

2. Ranking first.

3. Occurring in advance; preceding.

   Antonyms: following, lagging, trailing

Coordinate terms

• (occurring in advance): concurrent, lagging

Hyponyms

• industry-leading

Derived terms

• leading indicator

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English leding, ledyng, ledinge, ledunge, equivalent to lead +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?li?d??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?lid??/
• Rhymes: -i?d??
• Hyphenation: lead?ing

Noun

leading (plural leadings)

1. An act by which one is led or guided.

Etymology 3

From Middle English leedynge, equivalent to lead (chemical element) +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?l?d??/
• Rhymes: -?d??
• Hyphenation: lead?ing

Noun

leading (uncountable)

1. (typography) Vertical space added between lines; line spacing.

Translations

Further reading

• leading on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Negidal, adeling, aligned, dealign, dealing, diangle, lagenid, leidang

English

Etymology

From Old English formest, fyrmest (“earliest, first, most prominent”), from Proto-Germanic *frumistaz, from the locative stem *fur-, *fr- + the superlative suffix *-umistaz, stem ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr-. The suffix *-umistaz was a compound suffix, created from the rarer comparative suffix *-umô (as in Old English fruma) + the regular superlative suffix *-istaz (English -est); *-umô in turn is from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-.

Cognate with Old Frisian formest, Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (frumists). See for, first and Old English fruma for more. Partially cognate to primus, from Proto-Indo-European *pr- + Latin superlative suffix -imus, from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-.

A comparative former was back-formed analogically, leaving the m from *-umô in place. Later the Old English suffix complex -(u)m-est was conflated with the word most through folk etymology, so that the word is now interpreted as fore +? -most.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f??.m??st/
• Rhymes: -??st

Adjective

foremost (not comparable)

1. first, either in time or in space
2. Most forward; front
3. of a higher rank or position; paramount
4. (nautical) closest to the bow

Translations

Adverb

foremost (not comparable)

1. in front
2. prominently forward
3. especially; particularly
   • 2001, Chantel Laran Sawyer Lumpkin, The Influences of Assets on the Academic Achievement of African American College Students, p. 155:

     As dependent minors the foremost proximal system was family, followed by school and community.

   • 2013, Robert Woods, Evangelical Christians and Popular Culture: Pop Goes the Gospel, p. XXIX:

     Lewis is the twentieth century's foremost popular writer and the most influential public intellectual for evangelicals.

   • 2019, Louise Taylor, Alex Morgan heads USA past England into Women’s World Cup final (in The Guardian, 2 July 2019)[1]

     England head to Nice for Saturday’s third-place playoff after yet more semi-final disappointment but with heads held high having played their part in a wonderful game featuring some particularly harsh luck. Foremost among it was the marginal offside which saw an Ellen White goal disallowed and, later, a penalty miss by Steph Houghton.

Translations