lame

/leɪm/

lame adjective: unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.

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Adjective

lame (comparative lamer, superlative lamest)

(especially) Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
- With the years, this horse has little by little gone lame.
- Alone, alone, to where he sits,
  The Shadow cloak’d from head to foot
  Who keeps the keys of all the creeds,
  ⁠I wander, often falling lame,
  And looking back to whence I came,
  Or on to where the pathway leads; […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 39
Synonyms:

crippled
1. (especially, especially a foot or leg) That cannot be moved properly.
2. (dated, especially, offensive) Physically disabled.
  - a lame man
(broadly, dated) Hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect.
- a lame endeavoura. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn]...
- O, most lame and impotent conclusion![…]c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
Antonyms:

efficient, perfect
(colloquial) Unconvincing or unbelievable.
- He had a really lame excuse for missing the birthday party.
Synonyms:

weak

Antonyms:

convincing, believable
(colloquial) Uncool, uninteresting, or unfunny.
- He kept telling these extremely lame jokes all night.

Verb

lame (third-person singular simple present lames, present participle laming, simple past and past participle lamed)

(transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to become lame.
- And if you don't want to lame your horse, you must look sharp and get them [stones stuck in hooves] out quickly.[1877], Anna Sewell, “A Job Horse and his Drivers”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, pages 134–135
- Now her soul felt lamed in itself. It was her hope that was struck.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 6, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC
Synonyms:

cripple, disable

Noun (1)

lame (plural lames)

(slang) A stupid or undesirable person.
- You lames tryna clone my style and run wit it.2011, Lil' Kim, “Black Friday”

Noun (2)

lame (plural lames)

A thin layer or plate of material, as in certain kinds of armor.
- This rim involved a raised rolled edge on the rerebrace that was inserted into a raised lip on the lower lame of the pauldron. This lip allows the arm to rotate without the need for leather straps and can be clearly seen carved on to the effigy […]2013, Paul F Walker, History of Armour 1100-1700, Crowood, →ISBN
- These pauldrons are generally asymmetrical with the left pauldron wider than the right, which is cut away for the passage of the lance. It would be attached to the shoulder by points through a restored leather tab on the top lame at the apex […]2015, Anne Curry, Malcolm Mercer, The Battle of Agincourt, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 120
Synonyms:

lamella, lamina
(in plural) A set of joined overlapping metal plates.
A kitchen tool for scoring bread dough before baking.

Proper noun capitalized: Lame

Lame

A surname.

lame meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

lame in Hindi

unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs: लंग laṅg, अपंग apaṅg, पंगु paṅgu, लँगड़ा laṅgṛā

lame in Tamil

நொண்டியான, ஊனமுற்ற, முடமான, நொண்டிச் சாக்கு, முடவன்

lame in Marathi

लंगडा, लंगडे

lame in Urdu

اپاہج, لنگڑا, لولا, معذور

More languagesFewer languages

lame in Bengali: দুর্বল
lame in Telugu: కుంటి kuṇṭi
lame in Malayalam: പംഗു paṅgu
lame in Kannada: ಕುಂಟಿಸು, ಕುಂಟುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡು, ಊನಗೊಳಿಸು, ಕುಂಟನಾದ
lame in Punjabi: ਲੰਙਾ lãṅā
lame in Gujarati: લંગડું laṅgḍũ, પંગુ paṅgu, લૂલું lūlũ, પાંગળું pā̃gaḷũ
lame in Odia: ଲେଙ୍ଗେଡ଼ା leṅgeṛā
lame in Sanskrit: पङ्गु paṅgu
lame in Sinhala: කොර kora, නොණ්ඩි noṇḍi
lame in Assamese: খোৰা khüra
lame in Nepali: खोरण्डो khoraṇḍo
lame in Arabic: أَعْرَج ʔaʕraj, أَكْسَح ʔaksaḥ, أَشَلّ ʔašall
lame in Indonesian: cupu
lame in Persian: لنگ lang
lame in Thai: ง่อย ngɔ̂i, ง่อยเปลี้ยเสียขา, ขากะเผลก kǎa-gà-plèek, ขาเป๋ kǎa-bpěe

Examples of lame in a sentence

Infantile paralysis left him lame for the rest of his life.
Because of the president's lame duck status, the presidency was often hampered by congressional actions.
My costume last Halloween was pretty lame, but this time I'm really going to go ham.

All 40 example sentences with lame

Synonyms of lame

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of lame

Forms of lame

Adjective
comparative	lamer
superlative	lamest
Verb
third-person singular present	lames
present participle	laming
past participle	lamed
past	lamed
Noun
plural	lames

Origin of lame

From Middle English lame, from Old English lama (“lame”), from Proto-West Germanic *lam, from Proto-Germanic *lamaz (“lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃lemH- (“to tire; to break”).

From Middle French lame, from Latin lāmina. Doublet of lamina.

Words formed from lame

Phrases with lame

Words that rhyme with lame

37 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lame

What does lame mean?: Lame means unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
What is lame in Hindi?: Lame in Hindi is लंग (laṅg), अपंग (apaṅg), पंगु (paṅgu). See Lame meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is lame?: Lame can be an adjective, a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lame?: Lame is pronounced /leɪm/ (UK).

Words near lame in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-lame.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-lame.wav.

Cite this entry: “lame.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lame. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.