leading light

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

A prominent and influential person in a field

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Người có ảnh hưởng và nổi bật trong một lĩnh vực

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a guiding light
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She is a leading light in the scientific community

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 “leading light” mean?

A prominent and influential person in a field Literally: a guiding light

Is “leading light” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.