Idiom: lead someone on
Meaning
Idiom: lead someone on
- to deceive someone and be dishonest (often to get something from them)
Example sentences
— My girlfriend was leading me on when she accepted my marriage proposal—in fact, she was only trying to make her old boyfriend jealous.
— You need to tell the intern that he won’t get a job at the end of his internship—it’s not fair to lead him on like this.
— If you're not interested in dating that girl you really shouldn't keep leading her on with flirty text messages.
— The salesman was leading me on the whole time—he didn't actually have the car that I wanted to buy in stock.
— When you lead your clients on with false advertising about the hotel they will leave horrible reviews about it in TripAdvisor.
— Don't be surprised if this business venture doesn't work out. It seems like your partner is leading you on.
— We didn't buy the house after all because we had a feeling the owners were leading us on about something.
Synonyms
- lead someone astray
- string someone along
- steer someone in the wrong direction
- put on a false front
- put on an act
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