layabout

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.

To the book’s heartsick narrator, Louise Brown, the man who embodies those old-fashioned virtues is Claude Collier, the 27-year-old layabout scion of an aristocratic New Orleans clan.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

At the center of this story is a gainfully employed layabout, an unnamed, possibly mythical “friend of a friend.”

From Salon • Jan. 14, 2026

Katie sees Rachel as little more than a useless layabout waiting to claim the apartment, even though Rachel had been the live-in caregiver before things turned.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 6, 2024

This is a grim continuum on which to exist, skating between the poles of high-achieving hustler and dissolute layabout.

From New York Times • Feb. 17, 2024

The supervisor is sitting extremely comfortably with his legs crossed and his arm hanging over the backrest here like some layabout.

From The Trial by Wyllie, David