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)
-
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:
I wasn’t a fan on my first Delta One trip in 2024, booked so I could check out the new Delta One lounge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Elsewhere, residents will be able to enjoy an eighth-floor swimming pool and private restaurant and bar, as well as a rooftop pool, juice bar, private dining room, library, and multiple lounge areas.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
Years ago he shrank his own office to enlarge a lounge for a singer-songwriter who needed space to camp out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
A comedian shares his serious side: Murray Hill is an old-school entertainer in the mold of retro lounge singers and Borscht Belt comedians.
From Slate ● Oct. 20, 2026
Then the doors of the lift would open upon Mrs. Van Hopper and I would cross the lounge to meet her, and he would stroll back again to his corner and pick up a paper.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
It includes three studios, offices, tons of recording equipment, including two grand pianos, lounges, and a kitchen that pointedly lacks a stove.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
The company’s new approach comes as it tries to close a financial gap with its biggest competitors and burnish its premium travel bona fides with new lounges and more high-end seating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
In one of several photographs capturing the remarkable informality between them, Chivayo lounges, almost lying, on a sofa beside Mnangagwa, apparently entirely at ease in the president's company.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
We went on discussing how Ons have become the unofficial sneakers of airport lounges when, suddenly, Coppetti looked down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
The women scream, and glance over and under their chairs and chaise lounges.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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
The Lopez family’s small herd of horses and steers lounged around in an open corral to make room for “their visitors,” as Fernando Sr. jokingly described the evacuated equines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025
They lounged around the pond for a couple of days, chatting with Roz whenever she came by, and then they continued flying south to their wintering grounds.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Its formless body accommodated slouching, lounging or lying down, selling freedom from both conventional posture and the bourgeois living room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
The GIFs of the Owens’ Massachusetts estate, with its cozy fireplaces perfect for pajama lounging, still blow up Tumblr every October.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
Featuring various zones of native vegetation alongside bougainvillea and jacarandas, the park is dotted with generous public seating and has an amphitheater for outdoor events or general lounging.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
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
Fat Cheeks, who was lounging nearby, rose to his feet and roared a counter threat: I am the chief here!
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
