lazy
Americanadjective
-
lazier,
comparative
-
laziest
superlative
-
tending to avoid work, activity, or exertion.
She was too lazy to take out the trash, so it just continued to pile up.
- Synonyms:
- slothful
- Antonyms:
- industrious
-
causing or characterized by idleness or inactivity.
It was a hot, lazy afternoon.
I’m having a lazy day today, just lounging and watching movies.
-
slow-moving; sluggish.
a lazy stream.
- Antonyms:
- quick
-
Computers. of or relating to an operator or quantifier in a search query that will return the smallest match result possible.
-
(of a livestock brand) placed on its side instead of upright.
verb (used without object)
adjective
-
not inclined to work or exertion
-
conducive to or causing indolence
-
moving in a languid or sluggish manner
a lazy river
-
(of a brand letter or mark on livestock) shown as lying on its side
Synonym Usage
See idle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of lazy
First recorded in 1540–50; compare Low German lasich “languid, idle”
Explanation
While lazy actually means being averse to work or avoiding it, it can also be used to describe something slow-moving or unenergetic, like when you stroll down the garden path with a lazy gait, not in a hurry to get anywhere. The adjective lazy is thought to come from the Low German lasich, meaning "idle or languid." You were offended at being called lazy, but you just didn't have the energy to defend yourself. After all, who doesn't enjoy a lazy Sunday afternoon? Former President of Poland Lech Walesa once considered the benefits of being lazy when he said, “It's the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn't like walking or carrying things."
Vocabulary lists containing lazy
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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:
For lazy reporters, or those who’ve never covered another president, Trump makes the job easy.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
“Great Writers” paints portraits of the mewling kittens, dexterous mousers and lazy lap cats who happen to have witnessed the birth of some of humanity’s favorite texts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
This is a necessary intervention: according to Savage, many DJs have gotten lazy, and electronic dance music is a boys club that’s difficult for trans and cisgender women to break into.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
"I've met wonderful prison officers, but I've seen some lazy ones and the keep-apart system enables them to be lazy with an excuse for being lazy."
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
One night in Valdez and already he’d turned into a lazy slug.
From "I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964" by Lauren Tarshis
We label those who outsource their work to AI as lazier and less moral, and we think they value their work less than those who don’t.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Use her ajvar recipe without adjustment, or opt for my lazier route, and stash containers of lutenitsa in the freezer.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
Do our heroes become lazier as our realities become harder?
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2022
A lazier tale may have resolved this by having Stark Industries dump an angel loan upon the family from nowhere.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2021
Her companions were the lazier of the Old Sarum boys, the laziest of whom was one Albert Coningham, a slow thinker to whom Jean Louise had rendered invaluable service during six-weeks’ tests.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
But for now through early October, with little rain and seasonal dams controlling the water’s flow, this might be California’s laziest river.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
While charging a $1 annual fee may discourage the laziest bot-makers, it surely won’t prevent anyone with a real incentive—financial, political, or otherwise—to manipulate the platform for their own personal gain.
From Slate ● Oct. 19, 2023
If he loses, they say he overthinks, the laziest word ever to be used about Guardiola's work.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2023
Take it from the laziest cook: Life is hard, I do not seek out other difficult things.
From New York Times ● May 13, 2023
Out in Madison County, the heat officially makes Miss Celia the laziest person in the U. S. of A. She won’t even get the mail out the box anymore; I have to do it.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
The New York Stock Exchange tape lazied along: about 120,000 shares an hour, 610,000 shares for the full session.
From Time Magazine Archive
So he lazied with geishas, saki, talk and chess.
From Time Magazine Archive
I never lazied around so or frittered up so much time in my life; and I'm enjoying every second of my freedom, too.
From The Early Bird A Business Man's Love Story by Arthur William Brown
Then when we had got pretty well stuffed, we laid off and lazied.
From The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Tom Sawyer's Comrade by Mark Twain
I was in the merriest humour, and lazied about the whole afternoon through the most frequented streets and looked at the people.
From Hunger by Knut Hamsun
Hot summer weekends he is apt to be lazying beside Marian Anderson's Connecticut swimming pool.
From Time Magazine Archive
Creagh sprang to his feet from the chair in which he had been lazying.
From A Daughter of Raasay A Tale of the '45 by Stuart Travis
That same afternoon we were lazying around in a boat among the water-lilies at the edge of the bay.
From The Voice of the City: Further Stories of the Four Million by O. Henry
"A nice big dog lazying round here would sort of complete it."
From O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1921 by Edison Marshall
"And see what I've made thee while thou'st been lazying in bed—a real English ship of war."
From Harding's luck by H. R. (Harold Robert) Millar
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