Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for three-legged. Search instead for three-petaled.

three-legged

American  
[three-leg-id, -legd] / ˈθriˈlɛg ɪd, -ˈlɛgd /

adjective

  1. having three legs.

    a three-legged stool.

  2. Informal. (of a schooner) having three masts.

Etymology

Origin of three-legged

First recorded in 1590–1600

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.

Here’s why: Visualize your retirement as a three-legged stool.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 27, 2026

Trio is a three-legged dog; Jolene, I believe, is in a wheelchair.

From Salon • Feb. 9, 2025

In another enclosure, Mozart, a three-legged gray fox with no spleen, peered warily from a tunnel of corrugated tubing.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 18, 2024

And so I think of accountability as kind of a three-legged stool.

From Slate • Sep. 7, 2024

Years later, they laughed to see the girls, Mona and Callie, in a three-legged race.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

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.