What does "lawyer" mean?

A professional person with a graduate law degree that qualifies for legal work (such as Juris Doctor)

What is a synonym for "lawyer"?

Common synonyms include: attorney, advocate, counselor, solicitor, abogado, advocate.

//ˈlɔːjə(ɹ)// name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Noun

1
A professional person with a graduate law degree that qualifies for legal work (such as Juris Doctor)
2
a professional person authorized to practice law; conducts lawsuits or gives legal advice wordnet
3
A professional person qualified (as by a law degree or bar exam) and authorized to practice law as an attorney-at-law, solicitor, advocate, barrister or equivalent, i.e. represent parties in lawsuits or trials and give legal advice.
"His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill;[…]."
4
A legal layman who argues points of law. broadly
5
The burbot. UK, colloquial

Show 4 more definitions

6
The stem of a bramble. UK, dialectal
7
Any of various plants that have hooked thorns.; A relative of the raspberry found in Australia and New Zealand, Rubus australis
"The species of Eugnomus are very partial to the lawyer (Rubus australis ) when in bloom."
8
Any of various plants that have hooked thorns.; Various species of Calamus, including Calamus australis, Calamus muelleri, Calamus obstruens, Calamus vitiensis, Calamus warburgii, and Calamus moti.
"Besides the bags and nets common throughout the continent, these tribes have water-bags, which they make of closely-plaited “lawyer” (Calamus Australis), and also of palm-leaf sewn with the sinews of animals."
9
Any of various plants that have hooked thorns.; A woody climbing rainforest vine, Flagellaria indica.
"The stems of the "lawyer vine" (Flagellaria indica), buz or buzi (W.), boz (E.), are used in house-building, tying fences, etc."

Verb

1
To practice law. informal, intransitive
2
To perform, or attempt to perform, the work of a lawyer. intransitive
3
To make legalistic arguments. intransitive
4
To barrage (a person) with questions in order to get them to admit something. informal, transitive
"You've been lawyered!"

Proper Noun

"The defense lawyer was confident that he would be able to answer the prosecutor's arguments in his rebuttal."

From Middle English lawiere, lawier, lawer, equivalent to law + -yer.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.