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# lag

«lag» in Mova's school dictionary: **to move or develop more slowly than others, so you fall…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (lag, lags, lagged, lagging); noun (a lag, lags; jet lag, time lag; an old lag)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To lag, or lag behind, means to move or develop more slowly than others, so you fall behind. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#m1)

2) A lag, or time lag, is a delay between one thing happening and another. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#m2)

3) (gaming, computers, informal) Lag is a delay in a game or video call, when the screen freezes or jumps because the internet is slow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#m3)

4) Jet lag is feeling tired and muddled after flying across many time zones. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#m4)

5) To lag pipes or a hot-water tank means to wrap them in material to keep the heat in. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#m5)

6) (UK, slang) An old lag is a person who has been in prison many times. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#m6)

### sense in the lessons

In PE and stories, someone lags behind on a walk or race. In gaming, «it's lagging» is a common complaint. In science, there is a lag between seeing lightning and hearing thunder because light is faster than sound; in maths, you can use that lag to work out how far away the storm is (about 3 seconds per kilometre). Lagging pipes stops them freezing in winter. Phrases: «lag behind», «jet lag», «time lag», «lag spike».

### examples

- Hurry up, don't lag behind! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#x1)
- The game kept lagging, so I lost the level. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#x2)
- We had terrible jet lag after flying to Australia. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#x3)
- There is a lag between the lightning flash and the thunder. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#x4)
- Dad lagged the pipes in the loft so they wouldn't freeze. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#x5)
- Our class is lagging behind with the project, so we need to work faster. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#x6)
- The video call had a two-second lag. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#x7)
- "Yes, Fred," said she, and soon made herself ready; but, her husband being a good walker, she lagged behind. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/#x8)

### note

Verb doubles the g: lagged, lagging. «Lag» as an internet delay is informal but very common. Trap: «laggy» (informal) means slow and jerky; «lagging» can also be the noun for pipe insulation.

### In the corpora

- [Kai shouted «LAG!» every time he lost, even when the game ran as smooth as butter.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/409-lag-crashes-and-blaming-the-wifi/6/)
- [Then one evening he really did have lag, his character walking into a wall for ten seconds, and nobody believed a word.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/409-lag-crashes-and-blaming-the-wifi/8/)
- [The boy who cried lag.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/409-lag-crashes-and-blaming-the-wifi/9/)
- [Lag is a delay between what you press and what happens in an online game.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/409-lag-crashes-and-blaming-the-wifi/23/)
- [Films, video calls and big downloads on the same connection can cause lag in games.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/409-lag-crashes-and-blaming-the-wifi/25/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «lag» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lag/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.