bellwether
The leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neckThe leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck.
Meaning
3 sensesThe leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck.
Leithammel
sheep that leads the herd often wearing a bell
(figuratively)Anything that indicates future trends.
Mortgage delinquencies often act as a bellwether for a forthcoming recession.
Trendsetter, Trendbarometer, Indikator
(figuratively)A stock whose price performance is treated as an indicator of the likely direction of a broader market, sector, or industry.
führender Wert, Indikator
Translations
5 languagesBy meaning 3
Origin
From Middle English belwether, belleweder, equivalent to bell + wether (“castrated ram”).From Middle English belwether, belleweder, equivalent to bell + wether (“castrated ram”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: bellwethersSynonyms
4 synonymsWord family
3 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.