Lame Duck Definition & Meaning

American

British

Cultural

Idioms

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Synonyms lame duck American [leym duhk] / ˈleɪm ˈdʌk /

noun

1. an elected official or group of officials, as a legislator, continuing in office during the period between an election defeat and a successor's assumption of office.

2. a president who is completing a term of office and chooses not to run or is ineligible to run for reelection.

3. a person finishing a term of employment after a replacement has been chosen.

4. anything soon to be supplanted by another that is more efficient, economical, etc.

5. a person or thing that is helpless, ineffective, or inefficient.

6. a person who has lost a great deal of money in speculations on the stock market.

lame duck British

noun

1. a person or thing that is disabled or ineffectual

2. stock exchange a speculator who cannot discharge his liabilities

3. a company with a large workforce and high prestige that is unable to meet foreign competition without government support

4. 1. an elected official or body of officials remaining in office in the interval between the election and inauguration of a successor

   2. ( as modifier )

      a lame-duck president

5. (modifier) designating a term of office after which the officeholder will not run for re-election

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 lame duck Cultural

1. A public official or administration serving out a term in office after having been defeated for reelection or when not seeking reelection.

lame duck Idioms

1. An elected officeholder whose term of office has not yet expired but who has failed to be re-elected and therefore cannot garner much political support for initiatives. For example, You can't expect a lame duck President to get much accomplished; he's only got a month left in office. This expression originated in the 1700s and then meant a stockbroker who did not meet his debts. It was transferred to officeholders in the 1860s. The Lame Duck Amendment, 20th to the U.S. Constitution, calls for Congress and each new President to take office in January instead of March (as before), thereby eliminating the lame-duck session of Congress.

Other Word Forms

• lame-duck adjective

Etymology

Origin of lame duck

First recorded in 1755–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"I'm not sure he's a lame duck yet," Garret Martin, professor of international relations at American University, told AFP.

From Barron's

Suzuki agreed to a one-year contract, which puts him in the uncomfortable position of being a lame duck before he manages his first game.

From Los Angeles Times

The sooner Republicans wake up and treat him like the rabid, lame duck he is, the better off they — and the country — will be.

From Salon

At the 2007 White House press dinner, Bush jokingly insisted that he wasn’t becoming a “lame duck…unless of course Cheney accidentally shoots me in the leg.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Anything less, and the opposition could override Milei’s vetoes and block his often-used presidential decrees, effectively making him a lame duck.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.