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

Kyle Walker and even some of the foreign lads were taking the p***. — Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026

The bit culminates with a real working-class lad recognizing her from the piece, only to offer his assessment that the magazine was better when Graydon Carter was in charge. — Maxwell Adler, Vanity Fair, 19 Aug. 2026

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

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