physically disabled, especially in the foot or leg so as to limp or walk with difficulty.
a lame racehorse.
impaired or disabled through defect or injury.
a lame arm.
weak; inadequate; unsatisfactory; clumsy.
a lame excuse.
Slang: Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. awkward, dull, stupid, or uninteresting.
Slang: Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. out of touch with modern fads or trends; unsophisticated.
disabled or crippled in the legs or feet
painful or weak
a lame back
weak; unconvincing
a lame excuse
not effective or enthusiastic
a lame try
slang conventional or uninspiring
Many speakers do not recognize or consider the connection between the medical and slang senses of lame . Nevertheless, using a term associated with injury or disability as a general insult is sometimes perceived as insensitive to or by people with disabilities.
First recorded before 900; Middle English (adjective and verb); Old English lama (adjective); cognate with Dutch lam, German lahm, Old Norse lami; akin to Lithuanian lúomas
1580–90; < Middle French < Latin lāmina a thin piece or plate
1920–25; < French, equivalent to lame lame 2 + -é < Latin -ātus -ate 1
You might describe a limping dog that's lost the use of one of its legs as lame, which means "disabled in a leg or foot." It's less common than describing injured animals as lame, but sometimes you'll hear the word lame used to describe a limping person too. This usage is generally considered to be outdated or inappropriate. Lame is probably most often used to mean generally weak or pathetic — but many people consider this usage to be offensive as well.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
What should have been a unique way for “Supergirl” to remark on the infantilization projected onto so many women superheroes is cast away as a joke so lame it doesn’t even deserve to be finished.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026
So there may not be any significant surprises from the Fed on Wednesday, especially now that Powell is essentially a lame duck.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
I remember feeling strongly that being a teenager in the ’90s was, to use a term from the era, totally lame.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
Now that Ghostface has become the face of lame and derivative sequels, who’s going to kill him?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
My excuses to Jeff were pretty lame, too: I had to clean my room, move some plants, rake my grandparents’ yard … After a while, he stopped asking and did more things with Rich instead.
From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott
When the college awarded him its gold medal, Hockney accepted the honor wearing a gold lamé jacket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Five thousand fans, decked out in silver lamé and fishnet tops, packed the floor for two hours of zesty, bilingual club music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2025
Long finally settled on a longer gold lamé dress by Norma Kamali, and a great time was had.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 28, 2023
Katy Perry appeared in a gold lamé Vivienne Westwood ballgown, a cross between Vivienne Leigh in Gone with the Wind and that foil that you're given to wrap around you if you've run a marathon.
From BBC ● May 8, 2023
Mami is wearing her gold lamé sandals for New Year’s and she goes rushing to the kitchen, returning with the flan, which has turned as bright and golden as her pretty sandals.
From "Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar
As for his newly created clothes, there was an “homage to the lodge” in plaid lames and cashmeres, melting into sunset-drenched oranges and pinks inspired by his Colorado vacation.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 2021
But then Blane lames out on taking her, and this is where Andie really comes into her own.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 21, 2014
The writers' lames, of course, will not be printed in the book, nor, if you so desire it, will yours.
From Time Magazine Archive
Dramatically grave-robbed from Beckett, this is a good isometric exercise for the neck, but lames the brain.
From Time Magazine Archive
To help alleviate the costs for beginners or for kids whose parents weren’t willing or able to purchase fencing equipment, our high school had equipment for rent, like jackets, knickers, and lames.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
He’s also a lame duck and getting lamer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
The sharing of AI-generated images online, for one thing, has gone from seeming cool and even a little spooky to lamer than an account with a blue check mark.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2023
It was such a snooze, he almost forgot to celebrate after holing his final putt and gave a lamer fist pump than Lucas Glover at the 2009 U.S.
From Golf Digest ● Feb. 26, 2019
Under H. C., under H. C., It will be lamer, more-of-the-samer, take it from me!
From Washington Post ● Jun. 23, 2016
“You had to? That’s even lamer than denying it.”
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
The family’s insecurity over this surged into view last week, when the alleged “ladies man” was photographed doing the lamest possible thing on New Year’s Eve: hanging out with his parents at Mar-a-Lago.
From Salon ● Jan. 12, 2026
Mr Loach had told the PA news agency that keeping Mr Driscoll off the longlist published on Friday because they shared a platform was the "lamest excuse I've ever heard".
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2023
Strayer: San Antonio’s definitely the lamest, but that’s why I like it.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2023
“He was like, ‘Let’s meet up, I can help you with your blog,’ and I was like, ‘OK, that’s like the lamest excuse.’
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2021
Rachel could tell the lamest jokes and boys fall about the place in laughter.
From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben
If these were valid, even in part, "the realities of the industrial world" meant that many businesses would be lamed, some crippled.
From Time Magazine Archive
He opened the throttle; the plane caromed faster, tilting awkwardly up and down as if it were lamed.
From Time Magazine Archive
Slowly its 17th Century Tower built by lamed Sir Christopher Wren gathered new bells.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the lake, the perch, pike and sun.isn are lamed for their tastiness.
From Time Magazine Archive
Out on the verge he found Dandelion urging Haystack, who was lamed and spent.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Since last spring the world's biggest public school system, New York City's, has wallowed along like a superliner with a laming leak.
From Time Magazine Archive
My wife suffered from laming traumatic dislocation for eight years.
From Time Magazine Archive
Of all the difficult hurdles a new French Premier must leap without laming himself, the first and foremost is Algeria.
From Time Magazine Archive
Where the road was good and the light fine enough that there was no danger of laming a horse, we dropped back, one on either side of him, so we could talk.
From Laddie; a true blue story by Stratton-Porter, Gene
The man got off, as a matter of habit, to know what was laming his Horse.
From Johnny Bear And Other Stories from Lives of the Hunted by Seton, Ernest Thompson
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.
