Lame Meaning
/leɪm/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjUnable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
adjUnable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs., That cannot be moved properly.
Sentence Examples
I don't want to be lame; I want to be cool!!
Now the President is nothing but a lame duck.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The coach laughed at the team's ____ excuse for losing the game, calling it a silly made-up story.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The horse became ____ after it stepped on a sharp stone while it was running in the field yesterday.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"a lame endeavour"
— a. 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] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
"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 Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
"It is the remark of an ingenious writer, should a barbarous Indian, who had never seen a palace or a ship, view their separate and disjointed parts, and observe the pillars, doors, windows, cornices and turrets of the one, or the prow and stern, the ribs and masts, the ropes and shrouds, the sails and tackle of the other, he would be able to form but a very lame and dark idea of either of those excellent and useful inventions."
— 1801, Isaac Watts, The improvement of the mind, or A supplement to the art of logic:
"The ی consonant is our English y[…] It is really a sad mistake for us, who possess this useful consonant, to adopt the lame expedient to which other languages are forced to have recourse, namely, the use of the vowel i, with or without the diaresis over it."
— 1856, J. W. Redhouse, An English and Turkish Dictionary, page xx:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The coach laughed at the team's ____ excuse for losing the game, calling it a silly made-up story.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The horse became ____ after it stepped on a sharp stone while it was running in the field yesterday.