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:
A lawyer by trade who studied history at Brown University, where he is now the chancellor, Moynihan is known to be intelligent, with what some close to him describe as a photographic memory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Reiner’s former defense lawyer, Alan Jackson, quit the case in January.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
But through her career as a workers' rights lawyer, she has seen many lower-wage workers and parents who are not lucky enough to have access to paid time off.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
"We just filed our motion in state court, explaining why the state charges must be dismissed under New York's double jeopardy protections," said Mangione's lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Finally, more than a month into the trial, a Chicago criminal lawyer who was Scoville’s friend agreed to join the defense team.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
“Nick’s sense of urgency is real, but it did not arise in a vacuum,” lawyers for the former manager of the trust wrote Thursday in a lengthy response to Reiner’s demand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Nor could Reiner credibly claim that he needed the money to live, lawyers wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
What is certain is that Jason Arday had sought to defend his reputation, using a high-profile firm of lawyers to send a letter to a journalist from Times Higher Education who first questioned his work.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
After the older unit’s leader reclaimed some prosecutors, he told some of his lawyers that he had “won” the fight, the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
“I guess we should’ve read them as closely as Ainsley and her father’s lawyers did.”
From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
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.
