Synonyms

lazybones

American

[ley-zee-bohnz] / ˈleɪ ziˌboʊnz /

noun

(usually used with a singular verb)

a lazy person.

lazybones British

/ ˈleɪzɪˌbəʊnz /

noun

informal a lazy person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of lazybones

1580–90 lazy + bone + -s ³

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.

This apocryphal lazybones is defined by two traits.

From Salon • Jan. 14, 2026

The lazybones description of lawmakers came into vogue once again over two decades later.

From Washington Times • Oct. 17, 2021

For a lazybones like me, it is nearly perfect.

From New York Times • Apr. 10, 2015

“Come on, lazybones, shoe sale today,” he says at one point.

From New York Times • Aug. 6, 2012

Macquart soon had to abandon all hope of dragging this big industrious fellow into his campaign against the Rougons; whereupon, with all the spite of a lazybones, he regarded him as a cunning miser.

From The Fortune of the Rougons by Vizetelly, Ernest Alfred

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023