leadership

lead·er·ship
L1E1A1D2E1R1S1H4I1P3
/ˈliːdə(ɹ)ʃɪp/

noun

The capacity of someone to lead others.

“Wise, determined leadership matters most.”

Very commonScrabble 16

Meanings

nounleadership (countable and uncountable, plural leaderships)

plural leaderships

  1. countableuncountableThe capacity of someone to lead others.

    Wise, determined leadership matters most.

    2 more examples

    Personal leadership is a fundamental of successful government. I do not mean the leadership of the band of good fellows and good schemers who followed President Harding, nor the purely perfunctory party loyalty which has part of the time in part of the country sustained the present Chief Executive. I mean that leadership which, by sheer force of mind, by chain of unanswerable logic, has brought friends and foes alike to enact vitally needed measures of government reform.

    1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Presentation”, in The Happy Warrior Alfred E. Smith, Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC, →OL, pages 28–29

    Shepard: You have a plan? Ambassador Udina: The galaxy needs leadership. Real leadership. When a crisis hits, we can't be paralyzed by debate like the old Council. Ambassador Udina: The new Council must rule with a single voice. It must be assembled from one species alone -- humanity!

    2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel
  2. countableuncountableA group of leaders.

    Companies should survey their employees regularly to evaluate the implementation among the leaderships and peers.

    2018 December 10, Kathryn Vasel, “How to create a company culture that works”, in CNN
    2 more examples

    People who talk about an imminent possibility of war seldom pose this question: What would North Korea’s leadership get from unleashing a war that they are likely to lose in weeks, if not days?

    2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in The New York Times

    In stark opposition to what CBS editorial leadership told staff on Monday, Redstone said that she did not believe Dokoupil had violated the network’s editorial standards when he grilled Coates over the contents of his new book.

    2024 October 9, Hadas Gold, Liam Reilly and Brian Stelter, “Shari Redstone says CBS leaders made ‘bad mistake’ with handling of Ta-Nehisi Coates interview fallout”, in CNN
  3. countableuncountableThe office or status of a leader.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe activity of leading

Similar
Broader

nounthe body of people who lead a group

Similar
Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-West Germanic*laidī
  2. Proto-West Germanic*laid
  3. Proto-West Germanic*laidijārī
  4. Old Englishlǣdere
  5. Middle Englishledere
  6. Englishleader
  7. Proto-Germanic*skapjaną
  8. Englishleadership

From leader + -ship.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic قِيَادَة
  • قِيَادَة (qiyāda)capacity to lead
Basque buruzagitza, buzagitza
  • buruzagitzaoffice of leader
  • buzagitzaoffice of leader
Bulgarian ли́дерство, ръково́дство
  • ли́дерство (líderstvo)capacity to lead
  • ръково́дство (răkovódstvo)group of leaders
Catalan lideratge, direcció
  • lideratgecapacity to lead
  • direcciógroup of leaders
  • comandamentgroup of leaders
  • direccióoffice of leader
  • prefecturaoffice of leader
Chinese Mandarin 領導能力 /领导能力
  • 領導能力 /领导能力 (lǐngdǎo nénglì)capacity to lead
Czech vůdcovství
  • vůdcovstvícapacity to lead
Danish førerskab
  • førerskabcapacity to lead
Dutch voorzitterschap, leiderschap
  • voorzitterschapcapacity to lead
  • leiderschapcapacity to lead
  • voorzitterschapoffice of leader
Esperanto gvideco, kondukemeco
  • gvidecocapacity to lead
  • kondukemecocapacity to lead
  • komandooffice of leader
Finnish johtajuus, johto
  • johtajuuscapacity to lead
  • johtooffice of leader
French autorité, charisme
  • autoritécapacity to lead
  • charismecapacity to lead
  • leadershipcapacity to lead
  • directionoffice of leader
German Führung, Leitung
  • Führungcapacity to lead
  • Leitungcapacity to lead
Hebrew רָאשׁוּת
  • רָאשׁוּתoffice of leader
Hungarian vezetői képesség
  • vezetői képességcapacity to lead
Indonesian kepemimpinan
  • kepemimpinancapacity to lead
Italian leadership, carisma
  • leadershipcapacity to lead
  • carismacapacity to lead
  • autoritàcapacity to lead
  • direzionegroup of leaders
Japanese リーダーシップ, 指導力
  • リーダーシップ (rīdāshippu)capacity to lead
  • 指導力 (shidōryoku)capacity to lead
Korean 지도력, 리더십
  • 지도력 (jidoryeok)capacity to lead
  • 리더십 (rideosip)capacity to lead
Latin ductus
  • ductusoffice of leader
Malay kepimpinan
  • kepimpinancapacity to lead
Māori hautūtanga
  • hautūtangacapacity to lead
Norwegian Bokmål ledelse
  • ledelsecapacity to lead
Persian رهبری, سروری
  • رهبری (rahbari)capacity to lead
  • سروری (sarvari)capacity to lead
  • ریاست (riyâsat)capacity to lead
Polish przywództwo, kierownictwo
  • przywództwocapacity to lead
  • kierownictwogroup of leaders
  • przywództwooffice of leader
Portuguese liderança
  • liderançacapacity to lead
Russian ли́дерство, руково́дство
  • ли́дерство (líderstvo)capacity to lead
  • руково́дство (rukovódstvo)group of leaders
  • руково́дство (rukovódstvo)office of leader
Slovak vodcovstvo
  • vodcovstvocapacity to lead
Spanish liderazgo, liderato
  • liderazgocapacity to lead
  • lideratocapacity to lead
  • jefaturagroup of leaders
  • directivagroup of leaders
  • jefaturaoffice of leader
Swahili uongozi
  • uongozicapacity to lead
Swedish ledarskap
  • ledarskapcapacity to lead
Thai ความเป็นผู้นำ
  • ความเป็นผู้นำ (kwaam-bpen-pûu-nam)capacity to lead
Turkish liderlik
  • liderlikcapacity to lead
Ukrainian лі́дерство, керівни́цтво
  • лі́дерство (líderstvo)capacity to lead
  • керівни́цтво (kerivnýctvo)group of leaders
  • керівни́цтво (kerivnýctvo)office of leader
Vietnamese khả năng lãnh đạo
  • khả năng lãnh đạocapacity to lead
Welsh arweiniad
  • arweiniadcapacity to lead

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

leadership. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leadership

MLA

“leadership.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leadership. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “leadership,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leadership.

Source: leadership on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.