What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Top vs Lead - What's the difference?

top | lead |

As a symbol top

is tongan.

As a noun lead is

(uncountable) a heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity it is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal atomic number 82, symbol pb (from latin plumbum ) or lead can be (uncountable) the act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course; as, to take the lead; to be under the lead of another.

As a verb lead is

to cover, fill, or affect with lead; as, continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle or lead can be to or lead can be .

As an adjective lead is

(not comparable) foremost.

top

English

Noun

(wikipedia top) (en noun)
  • (rfc-sense)The highest part or component of an object.
  • :
  • *
  • *:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶.
  • #The part viewed, or intended to be viewed, nearest the edge of the visual field normally occupied by the uppermost visible objects.
  • #:
  • #A lid, cap or cover of a container.
  • #:
  • #A garment worn to cover the torso.
  • #:
  • #(lb) A framework at the top of a ship's mast to which rigging is attached.
  • #(lb) The first half of an inning, during which the home team fields and the visiting team bats.
  • #(lb) The crown of the head, or the hair upon it; the head.
  • #*(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • #*:from top to toe
  • #*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • #*:All the stored vengeance of Heaven fall / On her ungrateful top !
  • A child’s spinning toy; a spinning top.
  • :
  • (lb) Someone who is eminent.
  • #(lb) The chief person; the most prominent one.
  • #*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • #*:to be the top of zealots
  • #The highest rank; the most honourable position; the utmost attainable place.
  • #:
  • #*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • #*:And wears upon his baby brow the round / And top of sovereignty.
  • #*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 29, author=Tom Rostance, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Stoke 2-1 Besiktas , passage=After drawing their first game in Kiev the Potters are now top of Europa League Group E ahead of back-to-back games with Maccabi Tel-Aviv.}}
  • (lb) A dominant partner in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.
  • A man penetrating or with a preference for penetrating during homosexual intercourse.
  • :
  • (lb) A top quark.
  • The utmost degree; the acme; the summit.
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:The top of my ambition is to contribute to that work.
  • (lb) A plug, or conical block of wood, with longitudinal grooves on its surface, in which the strands of the rope slide in the process of twisting.
  • (lb) Highest pitch or loudest.
  • :
  • *, chapter=7
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.}}
  • (lb) A bundle or ball of slivers of combed wool, from which the noils, or dust, have been taken out.
  • (lb) Eve; verge; point.
  • *(Richard Knolles) (1545-1610)
  • *:He was upon the top of his marriage with Magdaleine.
  • The part of a cut gem between the girdle, or circumference, and the table, or flat upper surface.
  • :(Knight)
  • Topboots.
  • :(Charles Dickens)
  • Synonyms

    * head (of a page) * (lid) cap, cover, lid * (LGBT) pitcher, active, seme (Japanese fiction)

    Antonyms

    * (part of an object furthest away in the opposite direction from that in which an unsupported object would fall) base, bottom, underside * foot (of a page) * (garment) bottoms * (BDSM) bottom * (gay sexual slang) bottom, passive, pathic

    Derived terms

    * big top * curly top * desktop * hilltop * housetop * laptop * mountaintop * on top * on top of * on top of the world * palmtop * rooftop * tabletop * tiptop * top and tail * top-down * top-hole * topless * top of mind * top of the hour * top of the morning * topping * treetop

    Verb

    (topp)
  • To cover on the top or with a top.
  • I like my ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.
  • To cut or remove the top (as of a tree)
  • I don't want to be bald, so just top my hair.
    Top and tail the carrots.
  • To excel, to surpass, to beat.
  • Titanic was the most successful film ever until it was topped by another Cameron film, Avatar.
  • * Shakespeare, King Lear
  • Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, / And my invention thrive, Edmund the base / Shall top th' legitimate. I grow; I prosper
  • To be in the lead, to be at number one position (of).
  • Celine Dion topped the UK music charts twice in the 1990s.
  • * 2013 , Phil McNulty, "[http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25442148]", BBC Sport , 26 December 2013:
  • Liverpool topped the table on Christmas Day and, after Arsenal's win at West Ham earlier on Boxing Day, would have returned to the top had they been the first team to beat City at home this season.
  • (British, slang) To commit suicide, (rare) to murder.
  • Depression causes many people to top themselves.
  • (BDSM) To be the dominant partner in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.
  • I used to be a slave, but I ended up topping .
    Giving advice to the dominant partner on how to run the BDSM session is called "topping from the bottom".
  • (slang, gay sexuality) To be the partner who penetrates in anal sex.
  • (archaic) To rise aloft; to be eminent; to tower.
  • lofty ridges and topping mountains
    (Derham)
  • (archaic) To predominate.
  • topping passions
  • * John Locke
  • influenced by topping uneasiness
  • (archaic) To excel; to rise above others.
  • (Dryden)

    Synonyms

    * (excel) beat, better, best, do better than, exceed, excel, outdo, surpass, trump, worst * (kill) ** (standard) kill, murder, slaughter, slay ** do in, do away with, take out, wipe out

    Derived terms

    * (kill) top oneself * untopped

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (informal) Best; of the highest quality or rank.
  • (informal) Very good, of high quality.
  • Adverb

    (-)
  • Rated first.
  • She came top in her French exam.

    Synonyms

    * first

    See also

    * topple

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    lead

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) leed, from (etyl) . Alternative etymology suggests the possibility that Proto-Germanic *laud?'' may derive from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Noun

  • (uncountable) A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum ).
  • (countable) A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or (dated) to estimate velocity in knots.
  • A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
  • (uncountable, typography) Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading .
  • This copy has too much lead; I prefer less space between the lines.
  • Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.
  • A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.
  • :* I would have the tower two stories, and goodly leads upon the top. —
  • (countable) A thin cylinder of black lead or plumbago (graphite) used in pencils.
  • (slang) Bullets; ammunition.
  • They pumped him full of lead .
    Derived terms
    * arm the lead * acetate of lead * black lead * blue lead * cast the lead, heave the lead * chromate of lead * coasting lead * cold lead * deep-sea lead * eka-lead * go down like a lead balloon * hand lead * lap in lead * lay in lead * lead accumulator * lead acetate * lead-acid battery * lead-arming * lead arsenate * lead-ash, lead-ashes * lead-back * lead balloon * lead-bath * lead-blue * lead bronze * lead-brown * lead bullion * lead-burn * lead burning * lead carbonate * lead cell * lead chamber * lead chloride * lead colic * lead color, lead colour * lead-colored, lead-coloured * lead-comb * lead crystal * lead dichloride * lead dinitrate * lead dioxide * lead distemper * lead-eater * leaded * lead encephalopathy * lead-flat * lead-foot * lead-free * lead glance * lead glass * lead-glaze * lead-gray, lead-grey * lead hydrogen arsenate * lead in one's pencil * lead iodide * lead-light * lead-like * lead line * lead-man * lead-marcasite * lead mill * lead-nail * lead nitrate * lead ocher, lead ochre * lead oxide * lead paint * lead palsy * lead-paper * lead-papered * lead paralysis * lead pencil * lead plant * lead-plaster * lead peroxide * lead-pot * lead-poisoning * lead ratio * lead-reeve * lead selenide * lead-sinker * leadsman * lead-soap * lead-spar * lead-sugar * lead sulfide, lead sulphide * lead-swing * lead-swinger * lead-swinging * lead tetraethyl * lead tetroxide * lead-tin * lead-tree * lead vanadate * lead-vitriol * lead-wash * lead-water * lead wool * lead-work * lead-works * lead-wort * mock lead * pencil lead * red lead * red lead ore * sugar of lead * swing the lead * telluride of lead * tetraethyl lead * thorium lead * throw the lead * unleaded * uranium lead * uranium-lead dating * white lead

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cover, fill, or affect with lead; as, continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle.
  • (printing) To place leads between the lines of; as, to lead a page; leaded matter.
  • Usage notes
    Note carefully these two senses are verbs derived from the noun referring to the metallic element, and are unrelated to the heteronym defined below under .

    See also

    * anglesite * aplomb * cerussite * galena * litharge * plumb * plumb-, plumbo- * plumbagin * plumbago * plumballophane * plumbane * plumbary * plumbate * plumbator * plumb dulcis * plumbean * plumbeous * plumber * plumbian * plumbic * plumbicon * plumbiferous * plumbine * plumbing * plumbism * plumbisolvency * plumbisolvent * plumbite * plumb-joint * plumbless * plumbly * plumbous * plumby * plummet * TEL

    Etymology 2

    (Lead off) From (etyl) leden, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To .
  • #To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection.
  • #:
  • #*(John Wycliffe) on
  • #*:If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall down in the ditch.
  • #*
  • #*:They thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill.
  • #*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • #*:In thy right hand lead with thee / The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty.
  • #To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, especially by going with or going in advance of, to lead a pupil; to guide somebody somewhere or to bring somebody somewhere by means of.instructions. Hence, figuratively: To direct; to counsel; to instruct; as, to lead a traveler.
  • #*
  • #*:The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way.
  • #*
  • #*:He leadeth me beside the still waters.
  • #*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • #*:This thought might lead me through the world’s vain mask. Content, though blind, had I no better guide.
  • #*, chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
  • #To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; as, to lead an army, an exploring party, or a search; to lead a political party; to command, especially a military or business unit.
  • #*(Robert South) (1634–1716)
  • #*:Christ took not upon him flesh and blood that he might conquer and rule nations, lead armies, or possess places.
  • #To guide or conduct oneself in, through, or along (a certain course); hence, to proceed in the way of; to follow the path or course of; to pass; to spend. Also, to cause (one) to proceed or follow in (a certain course).
  • #:
  • #*
  • #*:That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.
  • #*1849 , (Alfred Tennyson),
  • #*:Nor thou with shadow'd hint confuse / A life that leads melodious days.
  • #*1849-50 , (Charles Dickens), ''(David Copperfield), Chapter 61
  • #*:You rememberthe life he used to lead his wife and daughter.
  • (label) To guide or conduct, as by accompanying, going before, showing, influencing, directing with authority, etc.; to have precedence or preeminence; to be first or chief; — used in most of the senses of the transitive verb.
  • (label) To begin, to be ahead.
  • #(label) To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among.
  • #:
  • #*1600 , (Edward Fairfax), The (Jerusalem Delivered) of (w)
  • #*:As Hesperus, that leads the sun his way.
  • #*(Leigh Hunt) (1784-1859)
  • #*:And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}
  • #(label) To lead off or out, to go first; to begin.
  • #(label) To be more advanced in technology or business than others.
  • #
  • ## To begin a game, round, or trick, with; as, to lead trumps.
  • ##:
  • ##(label) To be ahead of others, e.g., in a race.
  • ##(label) To have the highest interim score in a game.
  • ##(label) To step off base and move towards the next base.
  • ##:
  • ##(label) To aim in front of a moving target, in order that the shot may hit the target as it passes.
  • (label) To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure; as, to lead one to espouse a righteous cause.
  • *1649 , King (Charles I of England), (Eikon Basilike)
  • *:He was driven by the necessities of the times, more than led by his own disposition, to any rigor of actions.
  • * .
  • *:Silly women, laden with sins, led away by divers lusts.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.}}
  • (label) To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place.
  • :
  • *ca. 1590 , (w),
  • *:The mountain-foot that leads towards Mantua.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=All this has led to an explosion of protest across China, including among a middle class that has discovered nimbyism. That worries the government, which fears that environmental activism could become the foundation for more general political opposition. It is therefore dealing with pollution in two ways—suppression and mitigation.}}
  • To produce.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.
  • Derived terms
    (terms derived from the verb "to lead") * belead * inlead * lead astray * lead captive * leader * leading * lead the way * mislead * offlead * onlead * outlead * overlead * take the lead * underlead

    Noun

  • (uncountable) The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course; as, to take the lead; to be under the lead of another.
  • :* At the time I speak of, and having a momentary lead , . . . I am sure I did my country important service. — (Edmund Burke)
  • (uncountable) Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; as, the white horse had the lead; a lead of a boat’s length, or of half a second; the state of being ahead in a race; the highest score in a game in an incomplete game.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2010 , date=December 28 , author=Kevin Darlin , title=West Brom 1 - 3 Blackburn , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Blackburn then regained the lead with a simplest of set-piece goals}}
  • (countable) a metallic wire for electrical devices and equipments
  • (baseball) When a runner steps away from a base while waiting for the pitch to be thrown
  • The runner took his lead from first.
  • (uncountable, card games, dominoes) The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played; as, your partner has the lead.
  • (countable) A channel of open water in an ice field.
  • (countable, mining) A lode.
  • (nautical) The course of a rope from end to end.
  • A rope, leather strap, or similar device with which to lead an animal; a leash
  • In a steam engine, The width of port opening which is uncovered by the valve, for the admission or release of steam, at the instant when the piston is at end of its stroke.
  • * Usage note : When used alone it means outside lead, or lead for the admission of steam. Inside lead refers to the release or exhaust.
  • charging lead
  • (civil engineering) The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.
  • (horology) The action of a tooth, as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet. — Claudias Saunier
  • Hypothesis that has not been pursued
  • The investigation stalled when all leads turned out to be dead ends.
  • Information obtained by a detective or police officer that allows him or her to discover further details about a crime or incident.
  • (marketing) Potential opportunity for a sale or transaction, a potential customer.
  • Joe is a great addition to our sales team, he has numerous leads in the paper industry.
  • Information obtained by a news reporter about an issue or subject that allows him or her to discover more details.
  • (curling) The player who throws the first two rocks for a team.
  • (newspapers) A teaser; a lead in; the start of a newspaper column, telling who, what, when, where, why and how. (Sometimes spelled as lede for this usage to avoid ambiguity.)
  • An important news story that appears on the front page of a newspaper or at the beginning of a news broadcast
  • (engineering) The axial distance a screw thread travels in one revolution. It is equal to the pitch times the number of starts.
  • (music) In a barbershop quartet, the person who sings the melody, usually the second tenor
  • Usage notes
    Note that these noun (attributive) uses are all derived from the verb, not the chemical element in .
    Derived terms
    (terms derived from the noun "lead") * bury the lead * lead angle * lead in * lead role * lead screw * take the lead

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (not comparable) Foremost.
  • The contestants are all tied; no one has the lead position.
    Synonyms
    * (foremost) first, front, head, leader, leading

    Etymology 3

    Verb

    (head)
  • References

    *

    Statistics

    *