LED Meaning: Here’s What It Means and How to Use It

If you ask us, there’s nothing better than the holiday season. From homemade hot cocoa with marshmallows to singing carols and snowball fights, there’s no denying that it’s the most wonderful time of the year. 

Another winter activity that we simply can’t get enough of is strolling through the neatly decorated neighborhoods to watch LED Christmas lights glimmer and glow. That said, what does LED mean? We’ll tell you. 

Read on to discover the definition behind LED and more.

What Is the Definition of LED?

According to the Collins English Dictionary, the acronym LED stands for “Light-Emitting Diode.” This refers to an electronic device that emits light when an electrical current (or voltage) is passed through it. Back in the day, LEDs produced only red light, but modern LEDs can produce a number of colors, including red, green, yellow, amber, blue, and white. 

Originally, LEDs were extremely costly and had little practical use. After being used in various electronics and laboratory test equipment, they made their way to household appliances like calculators, radios, watches, TVs, and telephones.

LEDs can also be used in applications such as fiber optics when manufactured with aluminum gallium arsenide (AIGaAs). Light-emitting diodes are also responsible for the backlighting of numerous LCD television sets.

Does LED Mean Anything Else? 

Although you may know LED as an acronym for “light-emitting diode,” our word of the day is also the past tense and past participle of lead. That’s not all — here are a few other things LED can stand for:

• Local Economic Development
• Layout of Engineering Diagrams
• Light Emitting Device
• Local Employment Dynamics
• Liposome-Encapsulated Doxorubicin
• Love Equals Death 
• Leadership Education Development 
• Lean Encoder-Decoder
• Language Editor
• Last Edition
• Legal Education Department
• Loss-Event Database
• Law Enforcement Desk
• Lupus Erythematosus Disseminatus
• Library Education Division
• Loop Encryption Device
• Lawyers Edition
• Ledig (German word for unmarried)
• Law Enforcement Division
• Local Employment Development
• Low-Energy Diet 

What Are the Idioms, Synonyms, and Antonyms of LED?

Now that you’re familiar with the meaning behind our word of the day let’s pop open a thesaurus to review a few synonyms, antonyms, and idioms. 

Synonyms of Led

• Showed the way
• Ran rings around
• Outvied 
• Came first
• Guided
• Widened the gap
• Got ahead of
• Took the chair of
• Had a part in
• Outran
• Drew away from
• Headed 
• Pushed forward 
• Triggered off
• Conducted
• Led the way
• Steered
• Held sway over
• Brought round
• Marshaled
• Networked 
• Linked up
• Provided a route
• Ran the show
• Prevailed on
• Influenced 
• Showed the ropes
• Under authority 
• Caused
• Called the shots
• Went in front of 
• Spearheaded 
• Made willing 
• Impressed on
• Blazed a trail
• Presided over
• Put in motion
• Had a hand in 

Antonyms of Led 

• Went together with
• Followed 
• Warded off
• Shadowed 
• Kept up with
• Put an end to
• Stopped 
• Went along with
• Disinclined
• Nipped in the bud
• Tracked 
• Operated in
• Tailgated 
• Followed
• Prevented
• Shut out 
• Defended against
• Discard
• Held back 
• Put off
• Restrained 
• Stuck to 
• Stopped 
• Ruled out
• Indisposed 
• Tagged after 

How Can You Use LED in a Sentence?

LED can refer to a light-emitting diode or the past tense and past participle of lead. To further your understanding of our word of the day, let’s put your newfound knowledge into practice. 

Test yourself to discover how many sentences you can drum up using the word LED, or simply study the sentences examples we’ve listed below: 

“After spending the entire evening watching LED light displays, I hopped in bed and went right to sleep. Needless to say, I was tired!” 

“I’m not really a good dancer, but Bob led on the dancefloor so I ended up having a really good time!”

“The golden retriever led the team of investigators to the perpetrator.”

“Without causing it any harm, Tiffany led the little lost frog through her front door and out of the house.”

“Tommy led a pretty simple life.”

“Can you please come over this weekend to help me hang the LED Christmas lights on the roof?”

“While some folks like to be led, I like to lead.”

“The LED display was truly a sight to be seen.”

What Are Translations of LED? 

Before we wrap up this article, we want to leave you with some of the most common translations of the word LED. Learning translations can help build bridges between cultures while teaching you the nuances between your native language and the language you’re looking to learn. 

Translations for LED defined as Light Emitting Diode:

• Japanese — 発光ダイオード
• Danish — lysdioder
• Indonesian — dioda pemancar cahaya
• Finnish — valodiodi
• Italian — diodo ad emissione luminosa
• Ukrainian — світловипромінюючий діод
• Arabic — الصمام الثنائي الباعث للضوء
• Czech — světelná dioda
• Portugese — diodo emissor de luz
• Korean — 발광 다이오드
• Russian — светодиод
• Chinese (simplified) — 光二极管
• Swedish — ljusdiod
• Irish — dé-óid staithe solais
• Dutch — lichtgevende diode
• French — diode électro-luminescente
• Thai — ไดโอดเปล่งแสง
• Vietnamese — điốt phát quang

Below are translations for the past participle and past tense of lead, led:

• Indonesian — memimpin, menyebabkan, menuntun, menempuh
• Japenese — レッド
• Thai — นำ, พา, นำพา, กระเดียด, เป็นหัวหน้า
• Arabic — قاد
• Croatian — vodio, dovesti, zauzimati prvo mjesto
• Chinese (simplified) — 引领
• Portuguese — conduzir, liderar, cobrir de chumbo
• Russian — вел
• Czech — vedený, řídit, vylít olovem
• Italian — portare, condurre, dirigere
• Dutch — leiden, uitkomen, de leiding hebben, de weg wijzen

Summary

The abbreviation LED stands for light-emitting diode, which is a semiconductor diode that emits light when a voltage is applied to it. 

Commonly used for indicator lights on man various electronic devices, LEDs are often described as solid-state devices that can produce light up to 90 percent more efficiently than incandescent light bulbs. 

In addition, our word of the day is also the past tense and past particle of the term lead.

Sources:

Lead Synonyms | Collins Unabridged English Thesaurus

LED – What does LED stand for? | The Free Dictionary

Led definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary