lurk
Americanverb (used without object)
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lurks,
present (3rd person singular)
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lurked,
past participle, past
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lurking
present participle
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to lie or wait in concealment, as a person in ambush; remain in or around a place secretly or furtively.
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to go furtively; slink; steal.
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to exist unperceived or unsuspected.
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Chiefly Computers. to read or observe an ongoing discussion without participating in it, as on a message board.
noun
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an underhand scheme; dodge.
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an easy, somewhat lazy or unethical way of earning a living, performing a task, etc.
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a hideout.
verb
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to move stealthily or be concealed, esp for evil purposes
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to be present in an unobtrusive way; go unnoticed
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to read messages posted on an electronic network without contributing messages oneself
noun
Synonym Usage
Lurk, skulk, sneak, prowl suggest avoiding observation, often because of a sinister purpose. To lurk is to lie in wait for someone or to hide about a place, often without motion, for periods of time. Skulk suggests cowardliness and stealth of movement. Sneak emphasizes the attempt to avoid being seen. It has connotations of slinking and of an abject meanness of manner, whether there exists a sinister intent or the desire to avoid punishment for some misdeed. Prowl implies the definite purpose of seeking for prey; it suggests continuous action in roaming or wandering, slowly and quietly but watchfully, as a cat that is hunting mice.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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lurksimple
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lurkssimple
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have lurkedperfect
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has lurkedperfect
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am lurkingprogressive
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are lurkingprogressive
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is lurkingprogressive
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have been lurkingperfect progressive
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has been lurkingperfect progressive
Past
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lurkedsimple
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had lurkedperfect
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was lurkingprogressive
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were lurkingprogressive
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had been lurkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lurk
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English lurken, frequentative of lower 2; compare Norwegian lurka “to sneak away”
Explanation
To lurk is to creep around, hide out, and wait to attack. Your team’s strategy for winning capture the flag might be to lurk in the bushes for an hour until the opposing side thinks you gave up and went home. The verb lurk means to move furtively or sneak around, usually while you wait to pounce. Tigers lurk through the jungle, stalking their prey, and creepy characters are always lurking in the shadows in horror movies. Perhaps that's why you'll often hear people describe not-so-safe places by saying that danger lurks at every turn. Other words for lurk include creep, prowl, and snoop.
Vocabulary lists containing lurk
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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:
The roots of hatred run deep in our country, and always lurk just beneath the surface.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
What is true today, as potential bidders for the Dodgers lurk and coalesce amid L.A.’s turn at uncertainty, is that the Padres have an energetic and effervescent couple as their new principal owners.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Their formation in markets often suggest further price declines lurk on the horizon.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
"When I'm looking at universities, I do always have a lurk in whether they have bees and that does come into account for me, strangely enough," she said.
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
The flashlight beam, none too steady in April’s hand, made trash bins crouch and garbage pails lurk, and a length of hose slither against a wall.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Debt-aversion is a growing fear for students that lurks alongside cost-aversion, said Schraeder.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
We would like to leave no moment uncaptured, would like to at least try to become pearly, hairless, omniscient idealized beings, even if this desire lurks somewhere beneath what we’d consciously admit.
From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026
While the show doesn’t confront it directly, Simpson also said the “specter of AIDS” lurks in the background for the teens who “think they’re invincible.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
SpaceX shares are ever-so-slightly coming back down to earth — but stock indexes represent a fresh catalyst that lurks on the horizon.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 20, 2026
Feeling lurks in that interval of time between desire and its consummation.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Beneath those questions lurked a growing suspicion that the orders had something to do with artificial-intelligence companies’ insatiable need for new content to train their large language models.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Both suffered outages on Thursday afternoon as Tropical Cyclone Narelle lurked off the coast of Western Australia.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
In September, he was again rushed to safety by Secret Service agents after a second would-be gunman lurked in bushes at Trump's golf course in Florida.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2025
When it comes to agritourism, corn mazes once lurked in the shadows of pumpkin patches, U-pick berry operations and apple orchard hayrides.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2024
Behind him lurked a boy around Fadi’s age, who leaned forward to give Zafoona a kiss on the cheek.
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
Oppenheimer would soon learn that there were two undiscovered superstars lurking in his midst—and he was about to gain the first glimpse of their enormous potential.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Short came to embody the inverse of that picture, the shaded gloom lurking in places that escape sunshiny illumination.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
Also known as grabblers or hand-fishermen, noodlers use their own bare limbs as bait to catch enormous flathead catfish lurking in Southern and Midwestern rivers, creeks, and lakes.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
This is why Muir says that “the market is vastly underestimating the dangers lurking under the covers.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
Methodically, she went from person to person, waving the burning branch with her good hand and shouting insults at any hyenas who might be lurking.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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.
