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”

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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

It’s 70 and sunny as I write this from the hotel pool to fight off jet lag before heading to the Vatican.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

China's first fully AI-generated feature film opens in cinemas on Friday in what promises to be a tough box-office test for the country's booming tech industry as advance ticket sales lag.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

Because crops take months to reach harvest, and growing seasons differ by region and by crop, El Niño’s supply impact typically occurs with a lag of about 16 months, according to Ibrahim.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026

On the surface, this suggests that the technology stocks that have helped lead the S&P 500 higher may lag the broader market in the weeks ahead.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 18, 2026

If this is jet lag, it isn’t fun.

From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan

Those prime-time matchups featuring the Trojans, though, have lagged a bit behind other top teams from the Big Ten and SEC.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

Similarly, shares of mining and construction machinery maker Caterpillar fell 9.3% to $647.39 after its third-quarter sales lagged Wall Street expectations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Investors who hid out in healthcare in early 2006 lagged behind the market for nearly two years afterward.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Defensive and interest-rate-sensitive areas of the market moved sharply higher this week, as stocks that had lagged over the past two months shot upward.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2026

As we hurried toward the Metro, I lagged behind.

From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

Recently, as jitters have spread about the future payoffs from artificial intelligence, such titans as Nvidia have faltered—and some uncapped tech-sector funds are lagging behind the traditional variety.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

But when it comes to actual capacity, the US is ahead by a much larger margin, with China in second place and Europe lagging far behind.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

While the state is on track to meet its goal of conserving 30% of its land by 2030, it’s lagging in its efforts to conserve 30% of its coastal waters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026

Yet beating the market was still difficult: The percentage of mutual funds lagging the S&P 500 was virtually no different in the first half of this year than the past 25 years’ average.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

Actually, the bookies in the cigar shops in Poughkeepsie had Cal and Washington at even money, with Cornell lagging just behind at eight to five.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

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