lazy
Americanadjective
-
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:
In my perfect version, the yolk breaks over the hot rice and mingles immediately with the lemon zest, becoming a kind of lazy hollandaise.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
This made him angry and he called her rude and lazy, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The 3.6-acre estate features a wading pool and an infinity pool that are connected by a lazy river.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
The case for a lazy Sunday: Got weekend plans?
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026
I’d always assumed it was yet another perk of being the commander’s kid and that she was just plain lazy and slacking off in classes.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Though some economists worry that a “universal basic income” would make recipients lazier, data from programs around the world suggests the opposite is true.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2025
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
The other excuses he's been puking up are even lazier.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2023
Do our heroes become lazier as our realities become harder?
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2022
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
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
And Cahill’s attempt to characterize Audrey’s neuroses — her watching puppy videos on her phone for hours on end — might be the laziest effort at capturing millennial malaise.
From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2022
Adding co-op is like finishing any dish with chili oil — it’s the laziest way to make the most unimaginatively cooked proteins pretty tasty.
From The Verge ● Aug. 24, 2022
Paloma, the laziest cat on earth, eyes us suspiciously from her velvet tower but doesn’t lift her head.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
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
We lazied the rest of the pleasant afternoon away, some dozing under the trees, some smoking cob-pipes and talking sweethearts and war, some playing games.
From The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories by Twain, Mark
The two went down the road together, the Paymaster a little wearied with his years and weight or lazied by his own drams, leaning in the least degree upon the shoulder of the boy.
From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Munro, Neil
So we lazied the fine days away, while our sea harness lay stiffening in the dark lockers.
From The Brassbounder A Tale of the Sea by Bone, David W.
Hot summer weekends he is apt to be lazying beside Marian Anderson's Connecticut swimming pool.
From Time Magazine Archive
Therefore there is plenty of room for reposeful lazying and lounging, and for exercise too, for such as like that kind of work.
From Following the Equator, Part 2 by Twain, Mark
Billy came back and lay beside her, lazying in the sea-cool sunshine, and together they watched the sun sink into the horizon where the ocean was deepest peacock-blue.
From The Valley of the Moon by London, Jack
And lazying thus in the sunshine, I cast my mind over many things, but particularly I thought of Hugh.
From A Tatter of Scarlet Adventurous Episodes of the Commune in the Midi 1871 by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
Oddly, there was always some aircraft lazying about overhead by the time they were out of the gate.
From The Invaders by Leinster, Murray
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.
