lag

¹ American  

[lag] / læg /

verb (used without object)

lagged, lagging

1. to fail to maintain a desired pace or to keep up; fall or stay behind.

   After five minutes of hard running, some of them began to lag.

   Synonyms:

   linger, loiter

   Antonyms:

   hasten

2. to move or develop slowly, as toward a goal or objective, or in relation to an associated factor (often followed bybehind ).

   to lag behind in production.

3. to delay or fail in reaching full development.

   The factory lags regularly in making its quota.

4. to hang back; linger; delay.

   The old friends lagged because they wanted to talk some more.

5. to decrease, wane, or flag gradually, as in intensity.

   Interest lagged as the meeting went on.

6. (in video games) to experience a delay between player input or game signals and the in-game manifestation of that action, often due to high network latency.

   I’m lagging so hard that enemies are killing me before I can even attack them.

7. Marbles. to throw one's shooting marble toward a line lag line on the ground in order to decide on the order of play.

8. Billiards, Pool. string.

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verb (used with object)

lagged, lagging

1. to fail to keep up with.

   The industry still lags the national economy.

2. Obsolete. to cause to lag.

noun

1. a lagging or falling behind; retardation.

   Synonyms:

   slowdown

2. a person who lags behind, is the last to arrive, etc.

3. an interval or lapse of time.

   There was a developmental lag in the diffusion of ideas.

4. Digital Technology.

   1. Also called display lag.  the delay between a signal input and its display on a screen, as a high-definition television screen or LCD, due to latency in digital data conversion.

   2. Also called input lag.  (in video games) a display lag between player input or game signals and the in-game manifestation of that action, due to differences in display refresh rate or controller input.

      To make a competitive speed run, your best display option for minimal lag is still a CRT.

   3. Also called network lag.  (in video games) such a display lag due to high network latency.

      If you have an old computer or slow connection, lag makes multiplayer gameplay difficult.

5. Mechanics. the amount of retardation of some motion.

6. Electricity. the retardation of one alternating quantity, as current, with respect to another related alternating quantity, as voltage, often expressed in degrees.

7. Marbles, Billiards, Pool. the act of lagging.

lag ² American  

[lag] / læg /

verb (used with object)

lagged, lagging

1. to send to penal servitude; imprison

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noun

1. a convict or ex-convict.

2. a period or term of penal servitude; prison sentence.

lag ³ American  

[lag] / læg /

noun

1. one of the staves or strips that form the periphery of a wooden drum, the casing of a steam cylinder, or the like.

2. Masonry. a crosspiece between ribs in a centering.

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verb (used with object)

lagged, lagging

1. to line or cover (an excavation) with lagging.

2. to cover with insulation, as a steam boiler, to prevent radiation of heat.

lag ¹ British  

/ læɡ /

verb

1. (often foll by behind) to hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc

2. to fall away in strength or intensity

3. to determine an order of play in certain games, as by rolling marbles towards a line or, in billiards, hitting cue balls up the table against the top cushion in an attempt to bring them back close to the headrail

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noun

1. the act or state of slowing down or falling behind

2. the interval of time between two events, esp between an action and its effect

3. an act of lagging in a game, such as billiards

lag ² British  

/ læɡ /

noun

1. a convict or ex-convict (esp in the phrase old lag )

2. a term of imprisonment

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verb

1. (tr) to arrest or put in prison

lag ³ British  

/ læɡ /

verb

1. (tr) to cover (a pipe, cylinder, etc) with lagging to prevent loss of heat

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noun

1. the insulating casing of a steam cylinder, boiler, etc; lagging

2. a stave or lath

Etymology

Origin of lag¹

First recorded in 1500–50; origin uncertain, probably from Scandinavian: compare Middle Danish lakke, Norwegian lagga “to go slowly”

Origin of lag²

First recorded in 1565–75; origin uncertain

Origin of lag³

First recorded in 1655–60; from Scandinavian; compare Old Norse lǫgg “rim of a barrel,” Swedish lagg “stave”

Explanation

When you can't keep up with your fellow marathon runners, you can say that you lag behind them. The word lag describes a kind of slowness or delay. As a noun, it means a slowing: "The coach was disappointed by the lag in her swimmers' best times that day." When you lag behind someone, you fall back or don't measure up. A student who struggles with math, for example, might say that his grades lag behind his best friend's. In the 1550s, lag meant "last person."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lag lagged lagging

“Put together, we see Honeywell’s growth continuing to lag its peers. While the valuation is relatively inexpensive, we fear that this could be a value trap,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

Even relatively small differences between weekday and weekend schedules may create what researchers often call social jet lag.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026

For the most part however it was a sloppy and imperfect performance by Chelsea, with the Blues still adjusting to the effects of jet lag.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Plus, the next pickleball, a cure for jet lag and Lego makes a generational change to play.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

Because of the time lag in communications, the general prisoners probably did not learn of our participation for a day or so.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Its year-over-year sales growth has lagged behind capital-expeditures growth by a much wider margin than usual, noted a team of BofA strategists led by Savita Subramanian, head of U.S. equity strategy.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026

Since 1990, you would have lagged a buy-and-hold strategy by 2.9 annualized percentage points by mechanically following this simple strategy.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

“The lagged pass-through of higher energy, logistics and imported input costs from Gulf War shocks are still filtering through to prices,” the economists add.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

"The lagged effect from high energy prices will probably lift inflation above 3.0 percent in September and to about 3.5 percent early next year," he said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

I carried one of the suitcases and lagged behind them in the narrow street.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson

Additionally, SpaceX’s suggestion that memory output is growing at about 20% each year while AI demand is growing at a 200% clip supports the idea that supply is still severely lagging demand, he noted.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

Just last month, Microsoft began layoffs of 20% of its Xbox employees as part of a sweeping reorganization to revive the company’s lagging games division.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Elevated dealer stock levels could require production cuts, higher incentives or a mixture of both in the second half, while customer uptake of new products has been lagging previous guidance, the bank says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

US officials have warned that many allies were "lagging behind" on their pledge to spend 5% cent of GDP on the military by 2035, the paper reports.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

I kept playing, doing my best to let it pour out of me, though there were plenty of wonky and lagging notes.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Related Words

• decrease
• diminish
• fail
• fall off
• falter
• slacken
• slow
• trail
• wane