Word.ws English Dictionary

on the lam

on the lam adjective: running away, usually from the police; on the run.

Adjective

on the lam (not comparable)

  1. Running away, usually from the police; on the run.
    • The President: 'Hello... I am still on the lam from debt collectors.'2004, Nintendo EAD, Pikmin 2, Nintendo, space e-mail
    • Their top hitman, Joe Russo, was on the lam after murdering Joe Barboza in San Francisco.2007, Howie Carr, The Brothers Bulger

Examples of on the lam in a sentence

  • There have been more bank runs, executives on the lam, arrests and credit panics than the country has seen in years.2012 September 15, “Vietnam: A Tiger at Bay”, in The Economist:
  • Charges of Russian meddling, including allegations of vote-buying by a Moldovan oligarch on the lam in Russia, could have substance.2024 November 25, Fred Weir, “In shifting world, post-Soviet states look back to a constant: Russia”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

Origin of on the lam

From lam (“flight, escape”).

Questions about on the lam

What does on the lam mean?
On the lam means running away, usually from the police; on the run.
How do you use on the lam in a sentence?
There have been more bank runs, executives on the lam, arrests and credit panics than the country has seen in years.
What part of speech is on the lam?
On the lam is an adjective.

Words near on the lam in the dictionary

  1. on the jar
  2. on the job
  3. on the jump
  4. on the knocker
  5. on the ladder
  6. on the lam
  7. on the lamb
  8. on the lash
  9. on the latch
  10. on the level
  11. on the line

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the lam (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on the lam.ogg.

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