Dictionary

snakes and ladders en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (uncountable) A children's luck-based board game of Indian origin, played on a numbered grid, the aim of which is to proceed to the end, and in which ladders aid progress and snakes impede it.
2. (figuratively, uncountable) Any situation in which people or events go forward and backward, seemingly at random.
   • His Mireille has had a snakes-and-ladders career, starting up, going down, then finally rising once more. 1983, Opera, volume 34, numbers 7-12, page 1295:
   • As the country continues to wrestle with one of the greatest upheavals to everyday life in recent memory, passenger numbers have had a turbulent 'snakes and ladders' journey - and continue to lag behind pre-pandemic levels. 2022 March 9, Stefanie Foster, “RAIL Supplement”, in RAIL, number 952, page 3:
   • But his snakes and ladders career would soon take its biggest hit. 2009, Kathryn Bonella, Hotel Kerobokan: The Shocking Inside Story of Bali's Most Notorious Jail:
   • Teachers, senior teachers, and principal teachers would have built-in status and the scales would offer well-defined career prospects instead of the ambiguous and often misleading snakes-and-ladders situation which at present exists. 1970, New Scientist, volume 45, numbers 682-694, page 493:

Forms

Relateds

back to square one · swings and roundabouts

Synonyms

chutes and ladders

Translations (5)

ta பரமபதம் (the game of snakes and ladders) · hi साँपसीढ़ी (the game of snakes and ladders) · pl awantura arabska (the game of snakes and ladders) · ta ஏணியும் பாம்பும் (the game of snakes and ladders) · pa ਸੱਪ ਪੌੜੀ (the game of snakes and ladders)