What does "lag" mean?
A gap, a delay; an interval created by something not keeping up; a latency.
Lag
adj, noun, verb, slang
adj, noun, verb, slang ·1 syllable ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A gap, a delay; an interval created by something not keeping up; a latency.
- Grammar: lag is listed as adj, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: afterthought, ambles, antedate, arrest.
- Useful contrasts: TAG, leading total, revolutionary momentum.
- Usage evidence: Whenever I go abroad, I suffer from jet lag and diarrhea.
How to use "lag"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "lag" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "lag" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "lag" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "lag" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "lag" is acting as adj, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "afterthought" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "lag", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A gap, a delay; an interval created by something not keeping up; a latency. countable
"Although this work is now presented to the world at large, people who read through it before publication severally raised some issues that should be addressed. These resolve around the lag between the field research and the publication of the monograph, a period of rather more than two decades; the use or non-use of various academic forms of terminology, frames of reference, modes of analysis, or "theoretical paradigms"; and my use of the present tense to describe a place that is most certainly not that way now."
- 2 the act of slowing down or falling behind wordnet
- 3 Delay; latency. uncountable
"Whatever the symptom, lag is a drag. But what causes it? One cause is delays in getting the data from your PC to the game server."
- 4 one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket wordnet
- 5 One sentenced to transportation for a crime. Ireland, UK, archaic, countable, slang, uncountable
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 the time between one event, process, or period and another wordnet
- 7 A prisoner, a criminal. Ireland, UK, countable, slang, uncountable
"On both these occasions I had ended up behind the bars, and you might suppose that an old lag like myself would have been getting used to it by now."
- 8 A period of imprisonment. countable, slang, uncountable
"I wasn't scared any more; the second lag wasn't easy, but I wasn't really scared of anything. […] So in my later lags, when I walked into prison everyone had heard about me."
- 9 A method of deciding which player is to start. Both players simultaneously strike a cue ball from the baulk line to hit the top cushion and rebound down the table; the player whose ball finishes closest to the baulk cushion wins. countable, uncountable
- 10 One who lags; that which comes in last. countable, uncountable
"the lag of all the flock"
- 11 The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class. countable, uncountable
"The reſt of your Fees, O Gods, the Senators of Athens, together with the common lagge of People, what is amiſſe in them, you Gods, make ſuteable for deſtruction."
- 12 A stave of a cask, drum, etc.; especially (engineering) one of the narrow boards or staves forming the covering of a cylindrical object, such as a boiler, or the cylinder of a carding machine or steam engine. countable, uncountable
- 13 Clipping of lag screw. US, abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, uncountable
- 14 A bird, the greylag. countable, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To fail to keep up (the pace), to fall behind.
"Behind her farre away a Dwarfe did lag, / That lasie seemd in being ever last, / Or wearied with bearing of her bag / Of needments at his backe."
- 2 cover with lagging to prevent heat loss wordnet
- 3 To cover (for example, pipes) with felt strips or similar material.
"Spun glass mattresses are used for lagging the boiler, which has three Ross pop safety valves on the front ring."
- 4 throw or pitch at a mark, as with coins wordnet
- 5 To respond slowly. informal
"My phone is starting to lag."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc. wordnet
- 7 To transport as a punishment for crime. UK, archaic, slang
"She lags us if we poach."
- 8 lock up or confine, in or as in a jail wordnet
- 9 To arrest or apprehend. UK, archaic, slang
""We must get the old dear out," said Lord Roxton to Malone. "He'll be had for manslaughter if we don't. What I mean, he's not responsible - he'll sock someone and be lagged for it.""
- 10 To slacken transitive
"Interest in the scandal will never lag."
Adjective
- 1 Late.
"Some tardy cripple bore the countermand, / That came too lag to see him buried."
- 2 Loose (inclined to play many starting hands, including weak ones) and aggressive (inclined to raise often).
- 3 Last; long-delayed. obsolete
"the lag end of my life"
- 4 Last made; hence, made of refuse; inferior.
"We know your thoughts of us, that laymen are lag souls, and rubbish of remaining clay."
Antonyms
Example
"Whenever I go abroad, I suffer from jet lag and diarrhea."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "lag"?
Common synonyms include: afterthought, ambles, antedate, arrest, backlog, backlogged.
How do you use "lag" in a sentence?
Whenever I go abroad, I suffer from jet lag and diarrhea.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Of unknown origin. Possibly of North Germanic origin.
Etymology 2
Acronym of loose-aggressive.