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:
“Like the thousands of people who have reached out since this tragedy to share their own experiences, he believed that the system had failed him and destroyed his life,” his lawyer said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Reiner’s former defense lawyer, Alan Jackson, quit the case in January.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
If Gradik wins her case, it could set a precedent across Austria, the lawyer said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
But through her career as a workers' rights lawyer, she has seen many lower-wage workers and parents who are not lucky enough to have access to paid time off.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Mr. Shannon was a lawyer, just like Nancy's dad.
From "Sleepover Sleuths: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #1" by Carolyn Keene
Nor could Reiner credibly claim that he needed the money to live, lawyers wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
“Nick’s sense of urgency is real, but it did not arise in a vacuum,” lawyers for the former manager of the trust wrote Thursday in a lengthy response to Reiner’s demand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
After the older unit’s leader reclaimed some prosecutors, he told some of his lawyers that he had “won” the fight, the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
At a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Friday, Mangione's lawyers announced that he intended to plead guilty to the two federal charges against him.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The three lawyers took a cab to the courthouse downtown.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions 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.
