leapfrog
leapfrog Lexical Profile
leapfrog Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To surpass, overtake, or advance ahead of a competitor or intermediate stage, often by skipping conventional steps.
"Mobile banking allowed rural communities to leapfrog traditional branch infrastructure."
To jump or vault over someone or something with parted legs, as in the game of leapfrog.
"He laughed as he leapfrogged over the low wooden post."
• noun
A children's game in which players take turns vaulting with parted legs over the bent backs of others.
"The children spent the afternoon playing leapfrog in the schoolyard."
An act of vaulting over someone or something, or of bypassing an intermediate stage to advance directly to a higher position.
"Developing nations can perform a technological leapfrog by adopting solar power directly."
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 16th century (famously appearing in Shakespeare's 'Henry V') from 'leap' and 'frog', in reference to the frog-like posture of players vaulting over one another.