led someone on

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive

   Encouraged someone to believe you were romantically interested when you were not.

   Grammar: Takes a person as object: she led him on. The base form is 'lead someone on'.

   Patterns

   • lead someone on
   • be led on by someone

   He led her on for months and then stopped answering her calls.

   I felt I had been led on when he said he only wanted to be friends.

   Don't lead him on if you already know you're not interested.

2. 2verbtransitive

   Made someone believe something false, often as a joke or a trick.

   Grammar: Takes a person as object; often passive: we were led on to believe it.

   Patterns

   • lead someone on to believe something
   • be led on

   The clues led us on to think the money was hidden in the garden.

   She led the reporters on with hints about a big announcement that never came.

Common combinations

lead someone on

Please don't lead her on if you're not serious.

feel led on

After the third date he felt led on.

lead someone on about something

They led us on about the price and then doubled it.

be led on by someone

He was led on by her friendly messages.

Synonyms and how they differ

string someone along

Similar, but suggests keeping someone waiting over a longer period, often with promises about work or money as well as love.

mislead

Broader and more neutral: it means giving someone a wrong idea, without the romantic or personal closeness of 'lead someone on'.

toy with someone

Focuses on treating someone's feelings carelessly, and can be used for non-romantic situations too.

Opposites

Word family

lead someone on verb

The base (present) form of the same phrasal verb.

leading someone on verb

The -ing form, used in continuous tenses.

Commonly confused: led someone on or lead on? led someone on or let someone on?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “led someone on”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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