LAWYER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lawyer mean? 

• LAWYER (noun)
  The noun LAWYER has 1 sense:

1. a professional person authorized to practice law; conducts lawsuits or gives legal advice

  Familiarity information: LAWYER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LAWYER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A professional person authorized to practice law; conducts lawsuits or gives legal advice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

attorney; lawyer

Hypernyms ("lawyer" is a kind of...):

professional; professional person (a person engaged in one of the learned professions)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lawyer"):

ambulance chaser (an unethical lawyer who incites accident victims to sue)

trial attorney; trial lawyer (a lawyer who specializes in defending clients before a court of law)

solicitor (a British lawyer who gives legal advice and prepares legal documents)

referee (an attorney appointed by a court to investigate and report on a case)

public defender (a lawyer who represents indigent defendants at public expense)

prosecuting attorney; prosecuting officer; prosecutor; public prosecutor (a government official who conducts criminal prosecutions on behalf of the state)

divorce lawyer (a lawyer specializing in actions for divorce or annulment)

defense attorney; defense lawyer (the lawyer representing the defendant)

conveyancer (a lawyer who specializes in the business of conveying properties)

barrister (a British or Canadian lawyer who speaks in the higher courts of law on behalf of either the defense or prosecution)

advocate; counsel; counsellor; counselor; counselor-at-law; pleader (a lawyer who pleads cases in court)

Instance hyponyms:

Abul-Walid Mohammed ibn-Ahmad Ibn-Mohammed ibn-Roshd; Averroes; ibn-Roshd (Arabian philosopher born in Spain; wrote detailed commentaries on Aristotle that were admired by the Schoolmen (1126-1198))

Boy Orator of the Platte; Bryan; Great Commoner; William Jennings Bryan (United States lawyer and politician who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes (1925) for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school (1860-1925))

Clarence Darrow; Clarence Seward Darrow; Darrow (United States lawyer famous for his defense of lost causes (1857-1938))

Arthur Garfield Hays; Hays (United States lawyer involved in several famous court trials (1881-1954))

Hays; Will Hays; William Harrison Hays (United States lawyer and politician who formulated a production code that prescribed the moral content of United States films from 1930 to 1966 (1879-1954))

Hoover; J. Edgar Hoover; John Edgar Hoover (United States lawyer who was director of the FBI for 48 years (1895-1972))

Francis Scott Key; Key (United States lawyer and poet who wrote a poem after witnessing the British attack on Baltimore during the War of 1812; the poem was later set to music and entitled 'The Star-Spangled Banner' (1779-1843))

Abraham Lincoln; Lincoln; President Abraham Lincoln; President Lincoln (16th President of the United States; saved the Union during the American Civil War and emancipated the slaves; was assassinated by Booth (1809-1865))

Holonyms ("lawyer" is a member of...):

attorney-client relation; lawyer-client relation (the responsibility of a lawyer to act in the best interests of the client)

Derivation:

law (the learned profession that is mastered by graduate study in a law school and that is responsible for the judicial system)

 Context examples 

When I'm in Parlyment and riding in my coach, I don't want none of these sea-lawyers in the cabin a-coming home, unlooked for, like the devil at prayers.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to step up to the room.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You may be looking over papers to sign with your lawyer, and you may also be traveling this month.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

“A very good rule, too,” said the lawyer.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

And when he had paid everything, and lifted the hundred-dollar note with Brissenden's lawyer, he still had over a hundred dollars in pocket.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

For example, if my neighbour has a mind to my cow, he has a lawyer to prove that he ought to have my cow from me.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I left her this morning with her lawyer, talking over the business.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

You forget that I am a lawyer as well as a doctor.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

My lawyers and agents had taken care of my money for me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

"Courage," urged the lawyer,—"speak out."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)