lad

noun

ˈlad 

1

: a male person of any age between early boyhood and maturity : boy, youth

2

: fellow, chap

Synonyms of lad

• boy
• kid
• teenager

Examples of lad in a Sentence

Life was hard when I was a lad.

Well, lad, I hope you won't make the same mistake again!

He's a good lad at heart.

They can't treat us like that, can they, lads?!

Recent Examples on the Web

About how many pounds of fish do each of these strapping, 1,100-lb lads eat per day? — Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 17 Aug. 2026

We’ve both been brought up playing sport our entire lives, which is quite the macho, classic lad setting. — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 13 Aug. 2026

The movie is essentially an old-fashioned story of one lad’s sentimental education, spiced up with NSFW perversity. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 30 July 2026

Or is a ‘good’ World Cup actually one in which none of your lads featured, or their country got knocked out early, and are therefore going to be fresh heading into the 10 gruelling months ahead? — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 24 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English ladde

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for lad

• ad
• add
• bad
• brad
• cad
• clad
• dad
• fad
• gad
• glad
• grad
• had

Kids Definition

lad

noun

ˈlad 

1

: boy sense 1, youth

2

: fellow entry 1 sense 4a, chap