on the lam
"on-the-lam" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“on the lam” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Running away, usually from the police; on the run.
Corpus desk
Index EN-on-the-lam · on the lam · English
on the lam · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | on the lam |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “on the lam” in English
Rare enough to double-check
on the lam is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Running away, usually from the police; on the run.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for on the lam in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From lam (“flight, escape”). The correct English form is on the lam, spelled O-N- -T-H-E- -L-A-M.
Definition
- 1Running away, usually from the police; on the run.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how on the lam appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The President: 'Hello... I am still on the lam from debt collectors.'
Their top hitman, Joe Russo, was on the lam after murdering Joe Barboza in San Francisco.
Etymology
From lam (“flight, escape”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.