lead time
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
The time between initiating a process and its completion
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Thời gian giữa khi bắt đầu và hoàn thành một quá trình
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: time to lead
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company needs to reduce its lead time to remain competitive
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “lead time” mean?
The time between initiating a process and its completion Literally: time to lead
Is “lead time” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.