with leaden wings

adv

"with-leaden-wings" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“with leaden wings” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Very slowly in progress or the passage of time.

Corpus desk

Index EN-with-leaden-wings · with leaden wings · English

with leaden wings · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 17 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "W" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for with leaden wings
PropertyValue
Headwordwith leaden wings
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “with leaden wings” in English

with leaden wingssits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

with leaden wings is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Very slowly in progress or the passage of time.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for with leaden wings, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: Lead is a heavy metal, so a wing made of lead would cause slow flying. The correct English form is with leaden wings, spelled W-I-T-H- -L-E-A-D-E-N- -W-I-N-G-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Very slowly in progress or the passage of time.

Etymology

Lead is a heavy metal, so a wing made of lead would cause slow flying.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "with leaden wings"?
"with leaden wings" is spelled W-I-T-H- -L-E-A-D-E-N- -W-I-N-G-S.
What does "with leaden wings" mean?
As an adverb, "with leaden wings" means: Very slowly in progress or the passage of time.
What is the origin of the word "with leaden wings"?
Lead is a heavy metal, so a wing made of lead would cause slow flying. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list