lousy
Americanadjective
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infested with lice.
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Informal.
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mean or contemptible.
That was a lousy thing to do.
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wretchedly bad; miserable.
a lousy job; I feel lousy.
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idioms
adjective
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slang very mean or unpleasant
a lousy thing to do
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slang inferior or bad
this is a lousy film
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infested with lice
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slang (foll by with)
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provided with an excessive amount (of)
he's lousy with money
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full of or teeming with
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Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lousy
First recorded in 1350–1400, lousy is from the Middle English word lousi. See louse, -y 1
Explanation
Lousy things are terrible. The lousy things in life are the ones you complain about: your lousy job, the lousy weather, and the lousy pizza you had for lunch. The slang word lousy is the perfect way to describe something particularly awful or rotten. When you're sick, you feel lousy, and when someone is mean or rude, they treat you in a lousy way. The original, literal meaning of lousy is "infested with lice," those creepy crawly parasites that hang out on people's scalps. It was once common to say a place was "lousy with" something (like tourists or poodles) to mean "swarming with" them.
Vocabulary lists containing lousy
Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
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So Bad: Synonyms for "Awful"
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Ollie in Between
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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.
One reason the stock market has performed so much better in recent years is that investors weren’t being temped by yields in the bond market, which have been lousy.
From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026
He was lousy again Saturday with five baskets and five turnovers and a bunch of guff for the officials.
From Los Angeles Times • May 10, 2026
For all the book’s historic figures, Mr. Dugard emerges as its most endearing character—the awkward child who was lousy at softball but found deliverance in running and would later compete in marathons.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
I would like to point out that the average house being bought and sold at much lower prices in the 1970s was, by modern standards, lousy.
From Barron's • Mar. 14, 2026
It was a sliver of joy in an otherwise lousy trip, but I didn’t think I’d be able to get much down after the night I’d had.
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
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.
