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

One of my last actions was to say, ‘This lad should be in the under-21s now and then get him out on loan’. —Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2026

The search for lads to play the young teen began a few months ago. —Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 11 Feb. 2026

Mescal, Keoghan, Quinn, and Dickinson are each headlining their own respective Beatles film, which will dive deep into the minds of the Liverpudlian lads who changed music forever. —Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Jan. 2026

Laborious yet lithe lads and lasses have loyally leapt to luminate the lexical labyrinths of logic locking the lucrative lotto, longing to lure the lavish luxury lying latently in local landmarks. —Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 28 Jan. 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