Sunday driver

American

noun

a person who drives a car inexpertly, especially slowly or overcautiously, in the manner of one who drives infrequently.

Sunday driver British

noun

informal a person who drives slowly, timorously, or unskilfully, as if used to driving only on Sundays when the roads are relatively quiet

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Sunday driver

First recorded in 1915–20

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:

Sunday driver

Car radios were still uncommon, but one afternoon, the airborne commander spent 20 minutes chewing out a Sunday driver he saw weaving and dodging through a traffic jam in Queens.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

Last Sunday driver shortages affected 110 services across the country.

From BBC ● May 12, 2022

Nick Alloway, that lone Sunday driver, sent me to Mrs. B’s Home Cooking, a yellow-painted soul food restaurant a few minutes west of downtown that serves up a different featured meat every day.

From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2018

Greetings from a southbound C train moving at the pace of a Sunday driver.

From New York Times ● Dec. 20, 2017

A hundred miles to the gallon for the Sunday driver.

From PRoblem by Alan Edward Nourse

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023