lag

noun

ˈlag 

plural lags

1

a

: a falling or staying behind : the act or the condition of lagging

This work must go forward without lag.

—Dwight D. Eisenhower

see also jet lag

b

: comparative slowness or delay (as in movement, operation, or development)

In Finland … children begin school at seven. Despite that apparent lag, Finnish students score higher in reading comprehension than students from the UK and the US at age 15.

—Melissa Hogenboom

c

: a delay or interval between two related actions, events, etc.

… the day or so lag between the time you deposit a check in your bank and the time the check clears … .

—Lee Smith

… when using Bluetooth headphones to watch videos … there can be some noticeable lag between the motion in the picture and the sound from the headphones.

—Markkus Rovito

The longer a person is unaware of a positive test, the more time the person has to infect others. Local directors said they are still experiencing unacceptable lag times of as much as a week between test and data entry.

—Edmund H. Mahony

… the enormous lag time between the initial sketches of that new A-line skirt and its arrival in stores.

—James Surowiecki

see also time lag

2

or lag putt golf : a usually long putt struck with the aim of having the ball stop near the hole

The 18th wasn't a picnic for Parker yesterday. He … was forced to make a good lag to assure his par.

—Chris Stevenson

One of the best lag putts Vijay Singh ever stroked made him a back-to-back winner on the PGA Tour …

—The Columbian

3

archaic : someone or something that lags or is last

The omission of Harrison and Braxton and my being next to the lag [in number of votes] give me some alarm.

—Thomas Jefferson

Examples of lag in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The ThinkCentre Neo 50q runs on an Intel Core i5-13420H processor that's designed to keep up with a busy day of multitasking, video meetings, and productivity tasks without lag. —K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 9 June 2026

That might seem like a lag, but until now the data were only provided upon request and in ad hoc reports. —Blanca Begert, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2026

Issues discussed by the candidates include cutting lags in hiring, reforms using technology or other means and reaching out to property owners with more educational events about how the office works. —Steve Scauzillo, Daily News, 3 June 2026

There is no lag to anticipate and no visual harshness pulling attention away from the music. —William Jones, USA Today, 3 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian dialect lagga to go slowly

First Known Use

circa 1530, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Phrases Containing lag

• jet lag
• lag putt
• lag times
• time-lag

Rhymes for lag

• ag
• bag
• brag
• dag
• drag
• flag
• gag
• hag
• hagg
• mag
• nag
• rag

Kids Definition

lag

1 of 2 noun

ˈlag 

1

: the action or condition of lagging

2

a

: amount of lagging

b

: a time during which lagging continues

lag

2 of 2 verb

lagged; lagging

1

: to stay or fall behind : linger, loiter

2

: to move, function, or develop too slowly

production lagged behind schedule

3

: to slacken little by little : flag

lagger noun

Medical Definition

lag

1 of 2 verb

ˈlag 

lagged; lagging

intransitive verb

: to move, function, or develop with comparative slowness

the child lagged in perceptual development

symptoms may lag behind the radiographic changes

—Carol J. Johns & Theresa M. Michele

transitive verb

: to lag behind

current that lags the voltage

lag

2 of 2 noun

1

: the act or the condition of lagging

2

: comparative slowness or retardation (as in growth or development)

3

a

: a space of time especially between related events or phenomena see lag phase

b

: the time between the application of a stimulus and the occurrence of the response it causes