lasso
noun
a long rope or line of hide or other material with a running noose at one end, used for roping horses, cattle, etc.
lasso
1 American
[las-oh, la-soo]
/ ˈlæs oʊ, læˈsu /
noun
-
lassos,
plural
-
lassoes
plural
verb (used with object)
-
lassos,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lassoed,
past participle, past
-
lassoing
present participle
Lasso
2
American
[lah-soh]
/ ˈlɑ soʊ /
noun
lasso
British
/ ˈlæsəʊ, læˈsuː /
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
lassosimple
-
lassossimple
-
have lassoedperfect
-
has lassoedperfect
-
am lassoingprogressive
-
are lassoingprogressive
-
is lassoingprogressive
-
have been lassoingperfect progressive
-
has been lassoingperfect progressive
Past
-
lassoedsimple
-
had lassoedperfect
-
was lassoingprogressive
-
were lassoingprogressive
-
had been lassoingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lasso
1760–70; < Spanish lazo < Latin laqueus noose, bond; see lace
Explanation
A lasso is the loop of rope that cowboys use to catch cattle. To be a successful cowboy or cowgirl, you have to learn to throw a lasso while riding a galloping horse. The circle of rope is called a lasso. and to lasso is to use it to catch a runaway animal. A child might lasso her stuffed animals while riding a rocking horse, and during a rodeo, cowboys who specialize in "trick roping" use their lassos to do fancy spinning tricks. Lasso was coined in the U.S. around 1807, from the Spanish lazo, and its Latin root laqueum, both meaning "noose" or "snare."
Vocabulary lists containing lasso
Cinco de Mayo: Words to Celebrate Mexico
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Wonder Woman's Superpower Words
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"My Wonder Horse" by Sabine R. Ulibarri
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Gameway calls them wranglers because they are trained to lasso curious travelers heading for their gates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
There were plenty of cowboy hats inside Twickenham, honouring Kildunne and her trademark lasso celebration.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2025
This allows her to swing the hose up to spray water over her back with a movement like a lasso.
From NewsForKids.net ● Nov. 21, 2024
In between each performance, audience members cheered at bull riding competitions, circus acts, folklórico dancers, and lasso throwers.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
Soon he had a glowing, stinking lasso of poisonous weeds.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Sam was also pleasantly surprised by the newest season of Ted Lasso, which bounced back after its previous dreadful season.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026
Lasso has since gone on to bigger and better things on Apple TV, where the series is in its fourth season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
It sounds like Ted Lasso talking to AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Enter Ted Lasso, Jason Sudeikis’ folksy Missourian loaded with cornpone wisdom, positivity and kindness.
From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026
Another of his pupils was Orlando di Lasso, known as Lassus or Latres of Mons, who was one of the greatest and most popular of the musicians of this time.
From The Century of Columbus by James J. Walsh
Astrophysicist Elizabeth Tasker expertly lassoes the fast-moving field of extrasolar-planetary science for this crisp, witty primer-plus.
From Nature ● Sep. 5, 2017
Miro's wildly swooping lines looked as if they had been cast like lassoes into vast space.
From Time Magazine Archive
Revived at the City Center, it suffers less from the ravages of time than from the unsociableness of space: in that vast hall, the play's intimate, childlike mood never quite lassoes the audience.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Pendleton Roundup Rodeo from Pendleton, Ore., lassoes together top cowboy contenders in this year's rodeo competition.
From Time Magazine Archive
But the ropes from the lassoes became tangled with his legs, and even the marvelous Raksh was at last thrown, overpowered and led struggling away.
From Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 by Charles Herbert Sylvester
Another major difference between fish and human antibodies is that they lack the joining chain, which, in humans, lassos the tail ends of the five individual units together to create a stable star-like antibody.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2023
The rider on horseback catches up and lassos Lester, which then runs into the median and hops a guardrail onto the freeway’s southbound shoulder before it is stopped.
From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2023
Not to the police: “We do not use lassos nor do we plan to use them anytime in the future,” said Lt.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2017
But white blood cells can also do something even cooler: create sticky, viscous “nets” and throw them out like lassos to capture and wrestle bacteria to their deaths.
From Slate ● Nov. 17, 2015
The grass, growing in three- foot tentacles, lassos his feet.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
The unharmed horse was eventually cornered by police, before being lassoed.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
An offense that hasn’t scored fewer than 24 points this season — and averaged 39.7 per game — lassoed the Longhorns and got help from a sometimes porous “D.”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 29, 2022
Any extra attention given to blocking him creates opportunities for other pass rushers, like Randy Gregory and DeMarcus Lawrence, as it did on Sunday, when Lawrence lassoed Taylor Heinicke to the turf with one hand.
From New York Times ● Dec. 12, 2021
“We’ve got this thing kind of lassoed, and we just kind of need to keep holding on to it with what we’ve got,” fire behavior analyst Steven Volman said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2021
He lassoed a nasty patch of storm cloud and pulled it in.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
The winner of the recent Mexico City edition was a fresh-faced Kaled Rosales Salazar, who mimicked lassoing and leading his opponent, Quintana, like a horse, with a giant white sandal as a prop.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
While the sport of rodeo generally conjures up images of athletes riding bulls and lassoing animals, Whitemarsh’s Rascal Rodeo is all about adapting that experience for kids with special needs.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2023
Throughout the fiery video, a number of models — including the “Lemonade” artist herself — can be seen horseback riding, lassoing and straddling a bull swing while rocking an array of Ivy Park originals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2021
In 1937, a barge captain pulled a 4-foot, 8-inch alligator out of the East River by lassoing the animal around its “wildly waving forefeet,” reported The New York Herald Tribune.
From New York Times ● Feb. 26, 2020
“My grandma’s just old,” I said, circling my wrist and lassoing the towel down by my feet.
From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
