How to Use lama in a Sentence

lama

noun
  • The request would bind the lama closer to the people he was meant to lead.
    — David Pierson, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2023
  • Matthiessen speaks with a lama who claims to see snow leopards frequently.
    — Yael Martínez, New York Times, 21 Sep. 2022
  • The search for a dalai lama’s rebirth is an elaborate and sacred process.
    — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 3 July 2025
  • But while Ron is off collecting the cash, the monk shows up, seeking a gun for his lama.
    — Jocelyn Noveck, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Feb. 2024
  • What the lama has in mind for the arms remains uncertain until the film’s denouement.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 29 July 2024
  • At a monastery in the Himalayan foothills, a teenage Buddhist lama blesses thousands.
    — CBS News, 28 May 2026
  • Atop a hill, a growling chain saw drowned out loudspeakers broadcasting a lama’s chants from a nearby temple.
    — Edward Wong, New York Times, 28 Nov. 2016
  • The process of identifying a lama is based on spiritual signs and visions.
    — CBS News, 28 May 2026
  • The process of identifying a lama is based on spiritual signs and visions.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 1 Aug. 2021
  • But with the help of the lamas in a Buddhist monastery deep in the Himalayas, the duo overcome their wartime fears and find inner peace.
    — Pooja Makhijani, The Atlantic, 3 Oct. 2017
  • Darkness retreats date back centuries to the monks and lamas in Tibet to the ancient Egyptians.
    — Christopher Kuhagen, Journal Sentinel, 15 Feb. 2023
  • In the doorway at the back of the altar room that led to the kitchen, the household staff stood watching, bringing hot water for the lamas to drink during breaks.
    — Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
  • But there have always been complaints that the selections of lamas have been about politics and sometimes corruption.
    — David Pierson, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2023
  • There were many such lineages of lamas in Tibet, and the Dalai Lama was just one of them until 1642.
    — Donald S. Lopez, New York Times, 25 Feb. 2020
  • Building on that premise, the curators imagine how the lama might explain the purposes and powers of certain implements.
    — Lee Lawrence, WSJ, 12 May 2021
  • Shoes are scattered outside the Grand Sutra Hall, and inside, the chanting of hundreds of lamas resonates through the space.
    — Liam Freeman, Vogue, 27 Nov. 2024
  • The panchen lamas and dalai lamas have historically played major roles in recognizing each other’s next incarnations.
    — Brooke Schedneck, The Conversation, 30 Mar. 2023
  • He was later confirmed by several lamas as the eighth Terchen Taksham Rinpoche — the first was born in 1655.
    — CBS News, 28 May 2026
  • He’s first seen strolling through photogenic golden fields, circling a stone stupa on his way to visit an elderly lama (real-deal lama Kelsang Choejey).
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 7 Oct. 2023
  • In the Madison writer's new novel, twin brothers who don't get along, but have a psychic bond, travel across Mongolia seeking the new incarnation of a great lama.
    — Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 18 May 2022
  • Even the animals feel like something out of a fairytale—the camel-lama-deer hybrid called the guanaco, the bunny-squirrel-cat mix called the vizcacha, and the pumas, who, as the hotel will explain, are always watching.
    — Teddy Minford, Vogue, 9 Dec. 2022
  • Scene transitions have a ceremonial air, and Steve Lee and Franklin Dam provide tranquil performances as the visiting lama and monk.
    — Nelson Pressley, Washington Post, 11 June 2019
  • The dalai lamas in Tibetan Buddhism All dalai lamas are thought to be manifestations of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokitesvara.
    — Brooke Schedneck, The Conversation, 30 Mar. 2023
  • The dramedy, set in Dorji’s native Bhutan, tells the story of a lama who asks a young monk to get some weapons for him as their country faces a critical moment — transitioning from a monarchy to a democracy.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 29 July 2024
  • It is considered insensitive and disrespectful, almost as if the community is eagerly anticipating the lama’s death.
    — Lobsang Sangay, Foreign Affairs, 6 Nov. 2023
  • Historically, dalai lamas and panchen lamas have acted as mentors to each other and played a part in identifying or endorsing each other’s reincarnations – a close relationship likened by Tibetans to the sun and the moon.
    — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 3 July 2025
  • Pema Wangdu’s main teacher, Pema Döndrub, also from Nubri, describes a visit to a neighboring valley in which an official asks local villagers to bring the lama and his entourage some chang.
    — Geoff Childs, The Conversation, 1 May 2026
  • The result is an effective, streamlined version that quickly places us in the hands of Gorampa Sonam Sengge, an influential lama of the Sakya school who died in 1489.
    — Lee Lawrence, WSJ, 12 May 2021
  • In low, incantatory voices, the lamas were reading from The Tibetan Book of the Dead, encouraging my grandmother to move forward without fear in the bardo between death and rebirth.
    — Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Since annexing Tibet in the 1950s, Beijing has insisted that all reincarnations of high lamas—including the Dalai Lama—must receive government approval.
    — Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 June 2025

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

Last Updated: