- ladder
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} noun1 piece of equipment for climbing up sthADJECTIVE▪ rickety▪ metal, wooden▪ long, tall▪ loft (esp. BrE), rope▪ fire-escapeVERB + LADDER▪ ascend, clamber up, climb, climb up, go up, mount, scale▪
He went up the ladder onto the deck.
▪ come down, descend, go down▪ put up▪We put up the ladder against the wall.
▪ fall offPREPOSITION▪ on a/the ladder, up a/the ladder▪She was up a ladder fixing the roof.
▪ down a/the ladder▪I was standing lower down the ladder.
▪ ladder to▪the ladder to the gallery
PHRASES▪ the bottom of a ladder, the foot of a ladder, the top of a ladder▪ a rung of a ladder, a step of a ladder▪Several of the ladder's rungs were broken.
2 levels in a systemADJECTIVE▪ economic, evolutionary, social▪the people at the top of the social ladder
▪ career, corporate, promotion▪ housing, property (both BrE)VERB + LADDER▪ ascend, climb, move up▪She was anxious to move up the promotion ladder.
▪ get ontoPREPOSITION▪ higher up the ladder▪creatures higher up the evolutionary ladder
▪ lower down the ladder▪ ladder of▪the ladder of fame
▪ ladder to▪His good looks helped him on the ladder to success.
PHRASES▪ get one foot on the ladder, have one foot on the ladder (both esp. BrE)▪He finally managed to get one foot on the career ladder.
▪ a rung on the ladder, a step on the ladder▪{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}the old problem of how to get onto the first step on the ladder
verbLadder is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑tights
Collocations dictionary. 2013.