strike a lead

The phrase "strike a lead" originates from mining and has expanded into figurative use to describe discovering valuable opportunities or information.

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Definition

C1Mining

(technical)To find a vein of valuable minerals.

Example

  • After months of digging, the miners finally struck a lead of gold.

B2General

(figurative, informal)To discover a promising opportunity or valuable information.

Example

  • The detective struck a lead that could solve the case.
  • She struck a lead in her research that could change the field.

Similar

Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "strike a lead":

lead offtake the leadlead onlead inlead outstrike a strokestrike instrike upstrike a blowstrike a lightstrike offeat leadleadoff hitterstrike outstrike me luckystrike a chordstrike oillead the waystrike workstrike goldhit offlead with one's chinblaze a trailblack leadsteal a marchstrike while the iron is hotlightning strikestrike a balancestrike downhit one's stridetake pointset the pacestrike sailstrike one's flagstrike backstrike ratelead climbingleading lightleading stringslead mill