lawyer
Americannoun
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lawyers
plural
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a person whose profession is to represent clients in a court of law or to advise or act for clients in other legal matters.
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New Testament. an interpreter of the Mosaic Law. Luke 14:3.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb phrase
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonlawyernoun
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underlawyernoun
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delawyerverb (used with object)
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lawyerlikeadjective
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lawyerlyadjective
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unlawyerlikeadjective
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unlawyerlyadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of lawyer
First recorded in 1350–1400, lawyer is from the Middle English word lawyere. See law 1, -ier 1
Explanation
A lawyer is a professional who is qualified to offer advice about the law or represent someone in legal matters. A lawyer can also be called an attorney, a solicitor, a counselor, a barrister, or — pejoratively — an ambulance chaser. A lawyer can handle all sorts of legal matters from drafting wills to patent claims to defending people against criminal charges. Qualified lawyers have to attend law school and pass a bar exam in order to practice law. Lawyer, of course, means one who practices the law. "Law" itself comes from the Old Norse root word lag, which means something laid down or fixed.
Vocabulary lists containing lawyer
"The Civil Rights Movement"
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"Growing Together" and "When I Grow Up"
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Legal Lingo, List 1
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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:
When the deal was announced on March 9, the DOJ’s co-lead lawyer in the trial said in court that he had only received the settlement that morning and hadn’t reviewed it yet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
The following month, Trump nominated McDonald—the Sullivan & Cromwell lawyer who had represented Live Nation in the settlement—to be Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
This is not like suing somebody that’s judgment-proof or somebody can’t hire a good lawyer.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
"But I think both sides will face significant pressure in the coming days to find an off-ramp," added Majerus, a trade lawyer with King & Spalding.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
I would become a doctor or a lawyer or a world-famous scientist.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
McDonald, the new Sullivan & Cromwell lead attorney, wasn’t an antitrust specialist, though his two partners on the matter were, and Live Nation already had a deep bench of top flight lawyers from other firms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Weeks before Trump’s call, Live Nation told DOJ officials that the company had brought in a fresh set of lawyers for settlement talks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Patterson's lawyers are now arguing the hotel mix-up amounted to a "fundamental irregularity" which "fatally undermined" the integrity of the verdicts.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
I mean, they could have hired 40 lawyers.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
The three lawyers took a cab to the courthouse downtown.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
