noun

• (figuratively) A series of stages by which one progresses to a better position.
  "Newcastle had won both their previous fixtures in 2011 but were terribly disappointing at Broadhall Way against opponents 73 places below them in the footballing ladder."
• (figuratively) The hierarchy or ranking system within an organization, such as the corporate ladder.
  "Many publicly held companies do have good working conditions, but they often employ mostly high-wage workers or offer different levels of working conditions and benefits to management employees than to workers at the bottom of the ladder."
• (chiefly British) A length of unravelled fabric in a knitted garment, especially in nylon stockings; a run.
  "Proposed Standard of Needlework to be required from Pupil-teachers at the Yearly Visits of Her Majesty's Inspectors. […] Darning Stockings.—To show a hole darned, and a thin place "run" (or strengthened), and a ladder properly taken up in a coarse worsted stocking."
• (go) A sequence of moves following a zigzag pattern and ultimately leading to the capture of the attacked stones.
  "The most dramatic introduction to the idea of how stones relate to each other over distance is how players react when a ladder (shicho, "she-ko"^([sic]) in Japanese) [シチョウ (shichō)] develops. […] Ouch! This is finding out about the ladder, which is called that because of the steplike shape that the defending stones are forced into."

verb

• (chiefly firefighting) To ascend (a building, a wall, etc.) using a ladder.
  "The Rochdale climber spoken of once fell 70 feet from a mill at Linfitts, owing to an accident while he was laddering. He was terribly hurt, but recovered, and still carries on his trade with unshaken nerve."
• (UK, naval slang) To close in on a target with successive salvos, increasing or decreasing the shot range as necessary.
  "For eighteen minutes Revenge pounded the dockyard area at an average range of 15,700 yards, spreading for line and laddering for range to a prearranged plan to cover the whole target area."
• (UK, law enforcement, of a police officer) To corruptly coerce a convicted offender to admit to offences to be taken into consideration which they do not actually believe they committed, as a way to artificially increase the rate of solved crimes.