limp

/lɪmp/

/lɪmp/

Other forms: limping; limped; limps; limpingly

If you walk unevenly, you have a limp. Maybe you pulled your hamstring at the annual Thanksgiving Day Football Showdown, or maybe one leg is three inches shorter than the other. Whatever the reason, if your gait is off kilter, you limp.

You can have a limp (the noun), or you can limp (the verb), and both mean that for some reason your legs don’t work quite in synch. Limp can also be an adjective that means "not strong or firm," like your friends' limp response to your invitation to come help paint your house or when your hair looks limp, meaning it's just hanging, with no volume or style.

Definitions of limp

1. verb

   walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury
   synonyms: gimp, hitch, hobble

   type of:

   walk

   use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
2. verb

   proceed slowly or with difficulty
   “the boat limped into the harbor”

   type of:

   continue, go forward, proceed

   move ahead; travel onward in time or space
3. noun

   the uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg
   synonyms: hitch, hobble

   type of:

   gait

   a person's manner of walking
4. adjective

   not firm
   synonyms: wilted

   stale

   lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration from age
5. adjective

   lacking in strength or firmness or resilience
   “gave a limp handshake”

   “"a limp gesture as if waving away all desire to know" G.K.Chesterton”

   synonyms:

   lax

   lacking in strength or firmness or resilience