Meaning of ladder In English

• 0 a piece of equipment used for climbing up and down, that consists of two vertical bars or pieces of rope joined to each other by a set of horizontal steps:

  • She was up a ladder, cleaning the window.

• 1 a series of increasingly important jobs or stages in a particular type of work or process:

  • Once he started at Paramount in 1967, he moved rapidly up the corporate ladder.

  • a first rung/step on the employment ladder

• 2 a long, vertical hole in a pair of tights or a stocking

• 3 (in particular sports) a system in which all the players who play regularly are given a position in a list and can improve their position by beating other players in that list:

  • a squash ladder

• 4 If a pair of tights or a stocking ladders or if you ladder it, a long hole appears in it:

  • Damn! That's the second pair of tights I've laddered today!

• 5 a piece of equipment used for climbing up and down, and consisting of two vertical bars joined by a set of horizontal steps:

  • fig. In only a few years she managed to climb up the corporate ladder (= achieve success in the business world) to become a vice president.

• 6 a way of referring to a series of increasingly important jobs, or stages in a particular type of work or process:

  • Most top executives had to climb the ladder.

  • These entry-level jobs will offer you a chance to get your foot on the first rung of the employment ladder.

  • First-time buyers are desperate to get on the housing ladder.