Dictionary Definition
lame adj
1 pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness;
"a feeble excuse"; "a lame argument" [syn: feeble]
2 (of horses) disabled in the feet or legs [syn:
spavined]
3 disabled in the feet or legs; "a crippled
soldier"; "a game leg" [syn: crippled, halt, halting, game]
Noun
1 someone who doesn't understand what is going on
[syn: square]
2 a fabric interwoven with threads of metal; "she
wore a gold lame dress" v : deprive of the use of a limb,
especially a leg; "The accident has crippled her for life" [syn:
cripple]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /leɪm/, /leIm/
- Rhymes with: -eɪm
Etymology 1
lama, akin to German lahm and Dutch lam, Old Norse lami, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian lamAdjective
- unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs
- moving with pain or difficulty on account of injury, defect, or
temporary obstruction of a function
- a lame leg, arm, or muscle
- In the context of "by extension": hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect.
- unconvincing or
unbelievable
- He had a really lame excuse for missing the birthday party.
- failing to be cool, funny, interesting, or
relevant
- He kept telling these lame jokes all night.
Usage notes
Referring to a person with a disability as “lame” is offensive to many and, in current usage, rare.Synonyms
Antonyms
Translations
unable to walk properly because of a problem
with one's feet or legs
- Czech: chromý
- Finnish: rampa
- Hungarian: sánta
- Russian: хромой
moving with difficulty
- Finnish: heikko, rampa
- Hungarian: nyomorék, béna
- Russian: искалеченный, увечный
by extension, hobbling
- Finnish: ontuva, heikko
- Hungarian: sántikáló
- Russian: хромающий
slang, unconvincing
- Finnish: heikko, huono, tyhmä, ontuva
- Hungarian: átlátszó
slang, failing to be cool, funny, interesting,
or relevant
- Finnish: typerä, tyhmä, ontuva
- Hungarian: béna
- ttbc Albanian: çalë
- ttbc Catalan: coix
- ttbc CJKV Characters: 跙
- ttbc Croatian: hrom
- ttbc Danish: lam
- ttbc Dutch: lam, verlamd
- ttbc Esperanto: paralizata
- ttbc French: boiteux; nul, minable
- ttbc German: lahm (2)
- ttbc Hindi: अपंग (apanga)
- ttbc Italian: storpio
- ttbc Marathi: अपंग (apanga)
- ttbc Polish: kuleć
- ttbc Romanian: şchiop, olog
- ttbc Sanskrit: अपङगः (apangaha), पङगु (pangu)
- ttbc Scottish Gaelic: bacach, crùbach, cuagach
- ttbc Spanish: cojo
Etymology 2
lemianVerb
- To cause a person or animal to become lame
- 1877: Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: And if you don't want to lame your horse you must look sharp and get them [stones stuck in hooves] out quickly.
Estonian
Adjective
lameFrench
Pronunciation
Noun
fr-noun fRelated terms
German
Etymology
From the English adjective lame.Adjective
- boring; unimpressive
- unskilled; useless
Italian
Noun
- Plural of lama
Spanish
Verb
-
- Lame. — “[He/she/it] licks.”
-
- ¡Lame! — “Lick!”
Swedish
Adjective
- Definite tense, masculine gender, most common in Southern Swedish. In Standard Swedish, optional alternative to lama (Definite tense, feminine or common gender)
Extensive Definition
Lame means moving with pain or difficulty, or
colloquially, an
unconvincing argument.
Lame may also refer to:
- Lame, Michael "Phil" Zeitoune
- Lameness (equine), lameness in horses.
Other uses for lame and lamé (derived from the
French) are:
- lacking "coolness"
- Lamé (fencing), name of the electrically conductive jacket worn by foil and sabre fencers
- Lamé (fabric), a fabric with metallic threads
- Lamé (armor), an unarticulated component of a larger piece of armor
- Lamé (kitchen tool), a tool used in bread baking
- Lamé parameters (or Lamé constants), two elastic moduli for homogeneous and isotropic solids.
- Lamé (crater) on the Moon
- Gabriel Lamé, French mathematician
- LAME, MP3 encoder
- "Lame" (song), song by Unwritten Law
lame in German: Lame
lame in Spanish: LAME
lame in French: Lame
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abortive, awkward, bad, bootless, bugger, burden, castrate, castrated, clumsy, cramp, cripple, crippled, cumber, de-energize, debilitate, disable, disabled, disenable, drain, emasculate, emasculated, embarrass, encumber, enfeeble, enmesh, ensnarl, entangle, entoil, entrammel, entrap, entwine, failed, failing, feeble, fetter, flimsy, fruitless, futile, game, half-baked, halt, halting, hamper, hamstring, hamstrung, handicap, handicapped, hobble, hobbled, hobbling, hors de combat,
impaired, impede, inactivate, incapacitate, incapacitated, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, involve, kibosh, lime, limping, lumber, maim, maimed, manque, miscarried, miscarrying, net, of no effect, poor, press down, put, queer, queer the works, sabotage, saddle with, shackle, snarl, spavined, spike, stickit, stillborn, successless, tangle, thin, toil, trammel, unconvincing, unfit, unfortunate, unsuccessful, useless, weak, weaken, weigh down, wing, wreck