lounge
Americanverb (used without object)
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lounges,
present (3rd person singular)
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lounged,
past participle, past
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lounging
present participle
verb (used with object)
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lounges,
present (3rd person singular)
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lounged,
past participle, past
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lounging
present participle
noun
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lounges
plural
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a sofa for reclining, sometimes backless, having a headrest at one end.
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a place for sitting, waiting, smoking, etc., especially a large public room, as in a hotel, theater, or air terminal, often with adjoining washrooms.
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a section on a train, plane, or ship having various club or social facilities.
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Archaic. the act or a period of lounging.
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Archaic. a lounging gait.
verb
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(intr; often foll by about or around) to sit, lie, walk, or stand in a relaxed manner
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to pass (time) lazily or idly
noun
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a communal room in a hotel, ship, theatre, etc, used for waiting or relaxing in
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( as modifier )
lounge chair
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a living room in a private house
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Also called: lounge bar. saloon bar. a more expensive bar in a pub or hotel
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an expensive bar, esp in a hotel
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short for cocktail lounge
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a sofa or couch, esp one with a headrest and no back
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the act or an instance of lounging
Synonym Usage
Lounge, loll, laze, and loaf can all be used to mean “to pass time idly.” But lounge implies a leaning or reclining posture, and an experience of comfort, relaxation, and enjoyment: When he was home, he preferred to lounge in his easy chair and watch TV. Loll also conveys a leaning posture: Visitors can loll on the grass in beanbag chairs or loungers. Laze suggests no particular posture, but a relaxed indulgence, as in We spent the summer swimming, surfing, and lazing under the sun, while loaf is sometimes used to convey idle wastefulness: I spent all of Sunday just loafing around the house.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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loungesimple
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loungessimple
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have loungedperfect
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has loungedperfect
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am loungingprogressive
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are loungingprogressive
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is loungingprogressive
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have been loungingperfect progressive
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has been loungingperfect progressive
Past
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loungedsimple
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had loungedperfect
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was loungingprogressive
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were loungingprogressive
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had been loungingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lounge
First recorded in 1500–10; origin uncertain
Explanation
It's hard to lounge, or recline comfortably, in the lounge, or waiting area, of an airport terminal. Maybe they shouldn't call it a lounge. Lounge comes from the French s'allonger meaning "to lounge about, lie at full length." Whether you're talking about a room with seats in a hotel made for waiting, or a nice comfy sofa, or the act of reclining comfortably, lounge has everything to do with making yourself comfortable in one spot for a while. It also means to hang around in an easy way, the way you might lounge around the poolside area in a luxury hotel.
Vocabulary lists containing lounge
Greetings, World Traveler! — List 1
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30 Great Words from Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
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"The Death of the Hired Man" by Robert Frost
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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:
Besides a seat, the package includes access to a shared lounge space, a welcome drink, an L.A.-inspired food item and entry to a hospitality pavilion before or after the selected session.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Check-in at Rome’s Fiumicino airport was underwhelming, but the ticket did come with a security fast pass and lounge entry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Access to an airline’s top-tier airport lounge may be restricted or not included at all.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Once everyone is locked in, COs get to lounge around inside the bubble: eat, drink coffee, flirt with each other, complain, maybe nap until they have to perform the 10:30 p.m. count.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
My eyes kept tracking around the room, taking in a small library, a simulation setup, lounge area, and cafeteria.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
A spokesperson said the LA28 On Location hospitality plan currently includes about 13 premium lounges and nine leisure lounges and hospitality pavilions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
A Priority Pass membership, a perk of many travel credit cards, previously allowed one visit a year to the bank’s upscale airport lounges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Lee added that restaurants and lounges were shut but shops were open.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Students get access to the amenities at St. Camillus, which include a gym, swimming pool, movie theater, restaurants and lounges, and a pub.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
They found carved furniture, sitting rooms, lounges, a bar with shattered liquor bottles, staterooms, art on the walls mangled and torn, oil paintings tossed about and punctured.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Godzilla the rescue Sulcata tortoise lounged in a tidy shaded yard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
A video tour of the sanctuary posted in 2023 showed horses grazing and galloping across a vast expanse of the 40-acre property in Julian and a cattery where felines lounged in cat condos.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2026
The normally bustling border crossing of Kasumulu remained noticeably quieter than usual with drivers seen relaxing in the shade of trees, while others played draughts or lounged in the back of their lorries.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2025
A few hundred feet away down the Tongva steps, students lounged on a hill under the sun.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
Redtooth, Darkclaw, Cheesethief, and Fangburn lounged about at his feet on old burst hassocks.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
During my stay on the islands, I regularly found myself tiptoeing around sea lions lounging beside hotel entrances or ferry docks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Residents can also cool off with a dip in the glittering pool, which comes complete with a large lounging area.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
Meyer shared a photo of Ogunlesi lounging at home and cradling their little one in his arms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
My earliest memories of the one-pot dish are of rainy days spent either lounging on the couch or under the sheets.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
His coarse, bawling voice called out through the noise, and continually he was lounging from one place on the show grounds to another.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
