lazy
Americanadjective
-
lazier,
comparative
-
laziest
superlative
-
tending to avoid work, activity, or exertion.
She was too lazy to take out the trash, so it just continued to pile up.
- Synonyms:
- slothful
- Antonyms:
- industrious
-
causing or characterized by idleness or inactivity.
It was a hot, lazy afternoon.
I’m having a lazy day today, just lounging and watching movies.
-
slow-moving; sluggish.
a lazy stream.
- Antonyms:
- quick
-
Computers. of or relating to an operator or quantifier in a search query that will return the smallest match result possible.
-
(of a livestock brand) placed on its side instead of upright.
verb (used without object)
adjective
-
not inclined to work or exertion
-
conducive to or causing indolence
-
moving in a languid or sluggish manner
a lazy river
-
(of a brand letter or mark on livestock) shown as lying on its side
Synonym Usage
See idle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of lazy
First recorded in 1540–50; compare Low German lasich “languid, idle”
Explanation
While lazy actually means being averse to work or avoiding it, it can also be used to describe something slow-moving or unenergetic, like when you stroll down the garden path with a lazy gait, not in a hurry to get anywhere. The adjective lazy is thought to come from the Low German lasich, meaning "idle or languid." You were offended at being called lazy, but you just didn't have the energy to defend yourself. After all, who doesn't enjoy a lazy Sunday afternoon? Former President of Poland Lech Walesa once considered the benefits of being lazy when he said, “It's the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn't like walking or carrying things."
Vocabulary lists containing lazy
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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:
For a lot of people, however, Forestville is just a place to slip into the lazy river — often at Steelhead Beach, half a mile downriver from Burke’s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
He offers Gruel a lazy thumbs-up, accepts the chef’s joke about cooking for a dignitary and immediately turns to the camera to recite the show’s mission statement.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
The 3.6-acre estate features a wading pool and an infinity pool that are connected by a lazy river.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
A year ago, Stetler handed her AI-generated curriculum material, and she had felt, in her words, lazy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
But sometimes, mistakes are proof that you were lazy or careless.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
What concerns him isn’t the tool itself so much as what it could let a lazier version of himself get away with.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
A 2025 Duke University study found that professionals believed that colleagues would consider them lazier and less competent if they used A.I., making them unlikely to disclose its use.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2025
Use her ajvar recipe without adjustment, or opt for my lazier route, and stash containers of lutenitsa in the freezer.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
Do our heroes become lazier as our realities become harder?
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2022
“I can’t tell who is lazier, Polly or you,” Mother mut-tered as she stalked out of the room.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
While charging a $1 annual fee may discourage the laziest bot-makers, it surely won’t prevent anyone with a real incentive—financial, political, or otherwise—to manipulate the platform for their own personal gain.
From Slate ● Oct. 19, 2023
If he loses, they say he overthinks, the laziest word ever to be used about Guardiola's work.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2023
Adding co-op is like finishing any dish with chili oil — it’s the laziest way to make the most unimaginatively cooked proteins pretty tasty.
From The Verge ● Aug. 24, 2022
She and the news crews are all playing the same game, in the laziest and most inane manner possible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2021
“Next to Mom, you’re the laziest Shainmark,” he tells our dog.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
The New York Stock Exchange tape lazied along: about 120,000 shares an hour, 610,000 shares for the full session.
From Time Magazine Archive
So he lazied with geishas, saki, talk and chess.
From Time Magazine Archive
So we lazied the fine days away, while our sea harness lay stiffening in the dark lockers.
From The Brassbounder A Tale of the Sea by David W. Bone
The two went down the road together, the Paymaster a little wearied with his years and weight or lazied by his own drams, leaning in the least degree upon the shoulder of the boy.
From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Neil Munro
I was in the merriest humour, and lazied about the whole afternoon through the most frequented streets and looked at the people.
From Hunger by Knut Hamsun
Hot summer weekends he is apt to be lazying beside Marian Anderson's Connecticut swimming pool.
From Time Magazine Archive
I came home to see you all, Betty, and to satisfy myself that you were well; when that’s done there’s no more excuse for lazying.
From Betty Trevor by Victor Prout
And lazying thus in the sunshine, I cast my mind over many things, but particularly I thought of Hugh.
From A Tatter of Scarlet Adventurous Episodes of the Commune in the Midi 1871 by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
His head felt heavy and kind of funny, but he didn't think that lazying around on the pier would be harmful.
From A Son of the City A Story of Boy Life by Herman Gastrell Seely
"And see what I've made thee while thou'st been lazying in bed—a real English ship of war."
From Harding's luck by H. R. (Harold Robert) Millar
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.
