How to use lurk in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Lurk means to remain concealed in order to ambush. Example: “His client’s lugubrious expression tipped off the detective that something lurked beneath her optimistic words.”

Examples of lurk by meaning

verbTo remain concealed in order to ambush.

Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema.2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55

verbTo remain unobserved.

Sammy played 40 QxPch????, thinking it was mate- he completely forgot about that Black Bishop lurking innocently at the other end of the board.1973 November, Burt Hochburg, “Mecking Making It and other stories”, in Chess Life & Review

verbTo hang out or wait around a location, preferably without drawing attention to oneself.

if we find the sophist lurking, we must round him up by royal command of the argument2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 235c

verbTo saddle (a person) with an undesirable task or duty.

As junior dogsbody, he was lurked with this mission.2015, Andrew Gordon, The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command

nounThe act of lurking.

There were enemies on the lurk and time was against him.1921, George Colby Borley, The Lost Horizon

More sentences with lurk

His client’s lugubrious expression tipped off the detective that something lurked beneath her optimistic words.From the entry lugubrious
Perhaps somewhere among the uncounted stars in the sky there might be lurking a distant planet eerily similar to our own.From the entry uncounted
But a set of worrisome regulatory loopholes kept them from detecting this lurking whale.2021 May 18, Alexis Goldstein, “These Invisible Whales Could Sink the Economy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry whale
What folks call “alt-Right” simply names a spirit lurking in American conservatism.2021 December 14, Paul Elliott Johnson, I the People: The Rhetoric of Conservative Populism in the United States, University of Alabama…. From the entry the call is coming from inside the house
Soon he was encouraging other newfags to “lurk moar,” or learn more on 4chan.2013, Olsen, Parmy, We are Anonymous, Back Bay Books, page 37. From the entry lurk moar
Yet in the cobwebs of my memory, that expression was still lurking inside.2012, Stanley M. Bierman, Napoleon's Penis: Plus Other Engaging and Outrageous Tales, page 16. From the entry cobweb
Far fewer than before the September That Never Ended, but there may be a few lurking about.2012 January 21, Jay Hennigan, “Combo Padlock Lookup”, in alt.locksmithing (Usenet), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025. From the entry September That Never Ended
Lurking on the periphery of the Twilight fandom are the lolfans.2010, Liv Spencer, Love Bites: The Unofficial Saga of Twilight, pages 192 and 194. From the entry lolfan
The fact that there was a definite smell of toejam lurking below the incense didn’t help.2010, Anuja Chauhan, chapter 10, in Battle for Bittora, Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins Publishers India, →ISBN, page 296. From the entry toejam
Parsley may look like a mild-mannered garnish, but inside lurks the nutrient content of a “superplant.”2005, Kymythy Schultze, The Natural Nutrition No-Cook Book. From the entry superplant
But scratch the Stepfordian surface, and you'll find all kinds of misery and dysfunction lurking.2005 March, Danielle Pergament, “Camilla Belle”, in Interview, page 97. From the entry Stepfordian
"The yellow peril is lurking, and expanding its grip on the UK."2002 August 26, Helen Carter, “Livestock at risk as weed thrives”, in The Guardian. From the entry equinologist
But perhaps the greatest threat of Freudian theory concerned what lurks in the unconscious mind.2000 May 28, Peter Wolson, “A World of Psychophobia”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 10 May 2025. From the entry freudian
All around in shadow lurked the shapes of trunks, wooden boxes, furniture, disused and broken.1997, Toni Morrison, Paradise, New York: Knopf, page 172. From the entry disused
A smile I had learned to know elsewhere lurked at one corner of my paphian's mouth.1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter 9, in The Shadow of the Torturer. From the entry Paphian
Dark mists swirled round them and elephantine shapes lurked indistinctly in the shadows.1979, Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, →ISBN, page 132. From the entry elephantine
McBride has simply lurked around the house becoming an aging flowerchild and spaced-out heroin addict.1977 April 9, Don Shewey, “Guare's Rich and Famous”, in Gay Community News, page 11. From the entry flower child
Pot-plants on spindle-legged stands lurked in wait for an incautious gesture.1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 60. From the entry incautious
The hall was not too well lit and dark shadows lurked in the corners.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Which Describes an Evening in Strange Company”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no.…. From the entry medium
Carlyle resisted the temptation to laugh outright, but mordacity lurked in his voice.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards…. From the entry mordacity
The wild — along with foreign nations, for that matter — is a threat, with evil immortals lurking in every corner.2023 March 10, Robert Bourbon, “The Journey to the West: Familiarity in Foreign Lands”, in Reed College Quest, archived from the original…. From the entry Ch'ang-an
Somewhere out there, predatory lizards called chapsosaurs and large alligator-like crocodilians lurk, mostly submerged in the water, snapping at fish.2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin, published 2023, page 107. From the entry champsosaur
Clines’s hands, it was a front-page story, with a soupçon of bemused irony lurking just beneath the Timesian surface.2022 July 11, “A Few Words From a Master Journalist”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC…. From the entry Timesian
And if Shamy ever does go their separate ways, Sheldon fans can be sure to see plenty of Zazzles lurking about.2011 February 10, Angela Song, “TV for Two”, in The Harvard Independent, volume 42, number 14, Harvard University, page 9. From the entry Shamy
His poker-faced timing makes the most of even mediocre one-liners, and beneath sequoian impassivity lurks an engagingly warm persona.2007 February 5, Alessandra Stanley, “The Sitcom Question: Tie the Knot or Not?”, in New York Times. From the entry sequoian
Or what if a paparazzi is lurking somewhere?2005, Jude Idada, “Ouch!”, in A Box of Chocolates, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 221. From the entry paparazzi
Behind Europe's commitment to liberal democracy lurks an illiberal tradition.2004 December 15, Emanuele Ottolenghi, “Illiberal Europe”, in The Jerusalem Post, →ISSN. From the entry illiberal
Perhaps Ythra lurked around the next bend.2002 October, Edward M. Lerner, “Survival Instinct”, in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, volume CXXII, number 10, page 42, column 2. From the entry dragonbreath
In other words, the de-queering of Shakespeare suggests that a queer Shakespeare may be lurking uneasily beneath the surface.2001, Maria F. Magro, Mark Douglas, “Reflections on Sex, Shakespeare and Nostalgia in Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night”, in Deborah Cartmell…. From the entry de-queering
Finally, visions of postsuicide lawsuits may lurk menacingly in the minds of those clinically responsible for the patient.1993, Richard P Kluft, Catherine G Fine, Clinical Perspectives on Multiple Personality Disorder. From the entry postsuicide
Though poverty lurked in tenements and alleys, joviality flourished in taverns, foodstalls, bawdyhouses, odeions, the homes of the well-to-do.1987, Poul Anderson, Karen Anderson, The King of Ys, volume 1 (Roma Mater; Gallicenae), Garden City, N.Y.: Nelson Doubleday, Inc., page 401. From the entry odeion
To protect themselves from the lurking police cruisers ("smokey bears"), truckers ("18-wheelers") purchased CB units in large numbers.1977, M. Wayne DeLozier, Consumer behavior dynamics: a casebook, page 251. From the entry smokey bear
Still, I could never quite get rid of the lurking notion that he was marked for sudden and outlandish extinction.1968, MacKinlay Kantor, The Day I Met a Lion, page 34. From the entry paddlefoot
Lee felt that disaster lurked ahead, and he did his best to stave it off by making conversation.1923, Max Brand, chapter 18, in The Quest of Lee Garrison, New York: Leisure Books, published 1999, page 135. From the entry make conversation
"I feel that there is reason lurking in you somewhere, so we will patiently grope round for it."1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC. From the entry patiently

Meaning of lurk

verb To remain concealed in order to ambush.
verb To remain unobserved.
verb To hang out or wait around a location, preferably without drawing attention to oneself.

Full definition of lurk

Questions about lurk in a sentence

How do you use lurk in a sentence?: Lurk is used as a verb and noun. For example: “His client’s lugubrious expression tipped off the detective that something lurked beneath her optimistic words.”
What is a short sentence with lurk?: “Perhaps Ythra lurked around the next bend.”
What does lurk mean?: Lurk means to remain concealed in order to ambush.

Adapted from Wiktionary: lurk (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use lurk in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/lurk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.