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lowlife

American  
[loh-lahyf] / ˈloʊˌlaɪf /

noun

plural

lowlifes

  1. a despicable person, especially a degenerate or immoral person.

lowlife British  
/ ˈləʊˌlaɪf /

noun

  1. slang

    1. a member or members of the underworld

    2. ( as modifier )

      his lowlife friends
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of lowlife

First recorded in 1785–95; low 1 + life

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“We have a lowlife out here,” Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said in a video asking the public for its help.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 4, 2022

“My son Jonathan was a thousand times more of a man than this lowlife could ever even dream of being,” Justine Amerault said.

From Washington Times • May 27, 2022

"I want every bounty hunter and lowlife to squeeze him," she says of Obi-Wan in one shot.

From Salon • May 5, 2022

“American Buffalo” is a heist comedy about three small-time criminals hoping to steal a possibly valuable nickel, but its also a no-holds-barred portrait of lowlife desperation and greed.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 8, 2021

People call New York a cesspool, but New Yorkers would never knuckle under to intolerance and let some lowlife get away with drawing swastikas.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.