1
as in lame
arousing or deserving of one's loathing and disgust
why, you lousy cheater!
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in poor
falling short of a standard
I actually play a pretty lousy game of tennis
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3
as in terrible
extremely unsatisfactory
the restaurant served a lousy meal that we shouldn't have had to pay for
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4
as in cheap
of low quality
a tacky store selling lousy souvenirs
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5
as in crowded
possessing or covered with great numbers or amounts of something specified
a Manhattan neighborhood that is lousy with wannabe actors
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of lousy
Having a lousy year does have its benefits.
—
Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 25 Dec. 2025
Also, sorry, but Marcello’s outfit looks so lousy here.
—Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Has Depp gotten better at making movies after a string of lousy attempts to reenter Hollywood?
—James Folta, Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025
But Time’s big annual event came on a lousy day for the industry.
—Jordan Valinsky, CNN Money, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lousy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lousy
Adjective
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His other go-to bogeyman, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, is now firmly in his lame-duck era as his term ends this spring.—
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Your ultra-lame social media posts (with awful production values) don’t cut it by a Colorado mile high.—
Adjective
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Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas.—
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In recent games, KU’s communication has been pretty poor on defense and that’s led to players taking (and too often missing) wide-open 3-pointers.—
Adjective
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The groundbreaking research penetrated the last moments of the young nobleman, who suffered a terrible 26 blows.—
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History is full of cases where great bands make terrible records, yet history stands speechless at what the Clash accomplished here.—
Adjective
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Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have designed a new sodium-sulfur battery with higher power density and discharge capacity than before, enabling a cheaper, safer alternative to lithium-ion batteries.—
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Fentanyl is cheap, compact, and lethal at microscopic doses, produced through decentralized networks designed to survive disruption.—
Adjective
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As Beck spoke on the crowded field afterward, Cristobal swept past and stopped for quick bear hug.—
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These tools aim to let someone move through a lobby, down a sidewalk, through a crowded hall, without having to stop and reassess every few feet.—
Adjective
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Here in his pitiful, mini Gaza where reasoning and logic struggle futilely.—
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Instead Tripp comes across as simultaneously pitiful and predatory, a fine line that Paulson was able to walk straight to the year-round Christmas store.—
Adjective
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To make large profits from parking fees to make up for his terrible management of tax dollars and his expensive real estate errors should be unacceptable.—
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In just 24 hours, the president unveiled three massive state interventions into different markets that might’ve once looked—and sounded—like unacceptable levels of socialist dirigisme for a Republican to champion.—
Adjective
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Are there horrible smells wafting around?—
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Jimmy Kimmel was horrible, and some of these people.—
Cite this Entry
“Lousy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lousy. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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