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:
Her lawyer Gentian Serjani said the fire was "probably deliberate" -- a frequent accusation about blazes in and around the old steelworks complex.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Bai's lawyer Nadthasiri Bergman also confirmed to AFP that he had been taken to court to face extradition proceedings.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
A lawyer for convicted murderer Christa Pike says that she woke up in hospital "angry and confused" after she survived a botched execution attempt last week.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Guilfoyle’s lawyer previously told the Journal that “the claim that an American Dream dinner was an ‘investment pitch’” was false.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
At 5:30 p.m., with Fischer’s clock still running, Chester Fox’s lawyer in Reykjavik agreed to the suggestion that the cameras be removed just for the one game, pending further discussion.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
It came the day before an expected decision on a legal challenge brought by Bai's lawyers against Thai authorities over his continued detention.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The following day, lawyers for She’s Alive asked the court to deny this motion, arguing that Seaver “attempted to evade service of process” and that the “court should not reward that behavior.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
His lawyers had argued that because Texas planned to inject Howard with the same drug - pentobarbital - that was used on Pike, he faced the same risks.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Six days later, her lawyers announced she was "conscious and speaking".
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
But they’d learned the hard way that funerals were expensive, that hiring lawyers was even worse, that when you lost a loved one, it sucked your finances dry.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
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.
