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 This usage is generally considered to be outdated or inappropriate.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.
Letterboxd Journal would be replaced by the advertorial “journalism” of Netflix Tudum, or lame writing about the library of films currently available on whichever streamer or studio makes the shiniest offer.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
It’s odd and discordant with a strange magic all its own — a blessing in what’s otherwise a lame remix.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 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
Powell became a lame duck almost immediately after President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2025.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 19, 2026
And I was getting to be closer friends with Halle, who Lauren thought was lame.
From "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda
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
He stayed in the same gold lamé suit all evening, giving off the air of a man who's at his happiest when he's sitting behind a piano, letting rip.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 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
Teahupoo makes and breaks, or shames and sometimes even lames.
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
Hawking; as lames tbe First pointed out, is an extreme stirrer up of passions.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
A warning: an expensive sporting event is usually a lamer one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
He’s lame as hell, he’s lamer than George Lopez in my book.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 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
And this season’s stunt is even lamer because it was so clearly a sham, as Kaitlyn was always going to win.
From Slate ● May 29, 2015
“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
“We’ve never had as many amazing tools to make stuff, and then have it be used in the lamest way possible.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2025
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
My Gucci-wearing pals will stage the world’s lamest riot.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 2, 2020
“It’s just my luck. I’m the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half- bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy.”
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
In the lake, the perch, pike and sun.isn are lamed for their tastiness.
From Time Magazine Archive
The author invents an alter ego , character who prods the legally lamed Ian Hamilton to get on with his project despite the court's restrictions on paraphrasing.
From Time Magazine Archive
Scott was lamed by a child hood attack of polio and was ill for much of his life; Dumas was in overpowering good health and spirits all his days.
From Time Magazine Archive
To small Drew University of Madison, N. J. fell the lamed Wendel mansion on 39th Street and Fifth Avenue, with a high-fenced side yard which was maintained exclusively for Spinster Wendel's toothless, asthmatic poodle Tobey.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some of them were small and troublesome, creatures who lamed horses and spoiled milk.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Of all the difficult hurdles a new French Premier must leap without laming himself, the first and foremost is Algeria.
From Time Magazine Archive
My wife suffered from laming traumatic dislocation for eight years.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
He was more ashamed of his failure than he had been sorry for laming Truffey.
From Alec Forbes of Howglen by MacDonald, George
We rode on over the arid soil; over plains of lava and cut-rock that wounded the hoofs of our horses, laming many.
From The Scalp Hunters by Stewart, F.A.
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.
