How to Use lame duck in a Sentence

lame duck

noun
Definition of lame ducknext
  • The President was a lame duck during the end of his second term.
  • The result reduced the leaders of the bloc’s biggest nations, Germany and France, to lame ducks.
    — Max Hastings, Twin Cities, 12 June 2024
  • The Browns played half a season as a lame duck in Cleveland.
    — Mark Craig, Star Tribune, 27 Mar. 2021
  • But the lame duck House isn’t the one that chooses the next president.
    — Todd J. Gillman, Dallas News, 1 Nov. 2020
  • One challenge is that Ryan is a lame duck who will be gone in six months.
    — James Hohmann, Washington Post, 20 June 2018
  • Losing to a likely lame duck coach, though, would sour things for the third-year coach.
    — Brian Pedersen, ajc, 5 Nov. 2017
  • And that means most of Wisconsin's lame duck laws will stand.
    — Benjamin Yount, Washington Examiner, 10 July 2020
  • The big question is now this: Will a lame duck speaker be the same draw on the fundraising circuit?
    — Daniel Bice, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12 Apr. 2018
  • Kerr had been a lame duck coach up until this point, which is rare for a figure of his stature.
    — Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 24 Feb. 2024
  • Not wanting to be lame duck, Patterson left on the spot.
    — Dallas News, 7 Jan. 2023
  • So what happened in the final hours of the lame duck session, where Democrats helped spike a bill that might have done that?
    — Laura Johnston, cleveland, 20 Dec. 2022
  • Will he -- before this lame duck is done, will he be held in contempt of Congress for that?
    — ABC News, 20 Nov. 2022
  • In nature, a lame duck is a weakling, a bird that can’t keep up with the flock and is easy pickings for predators.
    — Oliver Staley, Quartz, 7 Nov. 2020
  • Doing the show as a lame duck will offer challenges (and that’s being kind).
    — Bob Raissman, New York Daily News, 8 June 2024
  • So Afghanistan has had its day and bitcoin is now a dead or lame duck in its biggest market.
    — Clem Chambers, Forbes, 28 Sep. 2021
  • The bill passed through the Senate and House during the final day of the lame duck session earlier this month.
    — Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune, 22 Jan. 2023
  • With nearly 4 years to go: Is Gov. Holcomb already a lame duck?
    — Shari Rudavsky, The Indianapolis Star, 11 June 2021
  • Obama was a lame duck president, while Trump is in his first term.
    — Tom Benning, Dallas News, 12 Oct. 2020
  • Host Tony Reali asked his panel if Rodgers was a lame duck as a result.
    — Mike Hart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 26 Mar. 2021
  • So, is Vladimir Putin a khromaya utka (lame duck) on the way to retirement six years from now?
    — Leon Aron, National Review, 16 Feb. 2018
  • Johnson and Buchanan were the lamest of lame ducks, in their final year in office and not running for re-election.
    — Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 11 Oct. 2019
  • Democrats may use the lame duck session between now and January, when a new Congress is sworn in, to head off some of the fights.
    — Noah Bierman, Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2022
  • DeWine will speak as the state legislature meets for a marathon lame duck session.
    — cleveland, 17 Dec. 2020
  • But the lack of action to this point means his only remaining hope might be in a lame duck session.
    — Mike Memoli, NBC News, 7 Aug. 2022
  • This problem is very likely to be compounded by the fact that he would be elected as a lame duck.
    — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 13 Dec. 2023
  • Greene's contract was set to expire in January 2023, and he was widely seen as a lame duck as the end of the contract neared.
    — Bennett Durando, USA TODAY, 27 Aug. 2022
  • The response was muted in part because some of the leaders in Lima are lame ducks, due to be replaced this year.
    — The Economist, 19 Apr. 2018
  • Against house joint resolution six last month in the lame duck session.
    — Laura Johnston, cleveland, 6 Jan. 2023
  • With nearly 4 years to go, is Gov. Eric Holcomb already a lame duck?
    — Ko Lyn Cheang, The Indianapolis Star, 13 June 2021
  • To maintain power as a lame duck for over six months is going to be really hard.
    — Joshua Jamerson, WSJ, 18 May 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lame duck.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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