lawyer
Americannoun
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lawyers
plural
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a person whose profession is to represent clients in a court of law or to advise or act for clients in other legal matters.
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New Testament. an interpreter of the Mosaic Law. Luke 14:3.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb phrase
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonlawyernoun
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underlawyernoun
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delawyerverb (used with object)
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lawyerlikeadjective
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lawyerlyadjective
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unlawyerlikeadjective
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unlawyerlyadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of lawyer
First recorded in 1350–1400, lawyer is from the Middle English word lawyere. See law 1, -ier 1
Explanation
A lawyer is a professional who is qualified to offer advice about the law or represent someone in legal matters. A lawyer can also be called an attorney, a solicitor, a counselor, a barrister, or — pejoratively — an ambulance chaser. A lawyer can handle all sorts of legal matters from drafting wills to patent claims to defending people against criminal charges. Qualified lawyers have to attend law school and pass a bar exam in order to practice law. Lawyer, of course, means one who practices the law. "Law" itself comes from the Old Norse root word lag, which means something laid down or fixed.
Vocabulary lists containing lawyer
"The Civil Rights Movement"
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"Growing Together" and "When I Grow Up"
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Legal Lingo, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Meanwhile, questions about her credentials took center stage, as she identified herself as a lawyer but in fact had never passed the bar exam.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
Zacharia has described herself as a lawyer during television appearances and on social media, and listed herself as general counsel of a California-based conservative nonprofit.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Manchester City face "substantial hurdles" if they are to have any chance of winning their appeal after being found guilty of breaking the Premier League's financial rules, a leading lawyer has told BBC Sport.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Zacharia has described herself as a lawyer and listed herself as general counsel of a California-based conservative nonprofit.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
"Still, one should dress according to what one does—a soldier doesn't dress like a priest, and a lawyer doesn't dress like a soldier."
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
But the court order did not prohibit a sale or termination of the trust, lawyers for Janie and Joey argue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
The letter states Omar and her lawyers weren’t given a copy of the warrant prior to the search, as had been required by the judge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Masud's lawyers asked a federal court in Washington to rule the alleged confession inadmissible in advance of his trial in April next year as it was not the original document.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
While a judge will determine her punishment, prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed that a sentence between three and four years in prison would be appropriate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
On Wall Street, the lawyers play the same role as medics in war: They come in after the shooting is over to clean up the mess.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
