How to Use lousy in a Sentence

lousy

adjective
  • I like the work, but the pay is lousy.
  • That's a lousy way to treat a friend.
  • They did a lousy job.
  • It's a lousy, rainy day.
  • He drank too much and felt lousy the next morning.
  • She got lousy grades in high school.
  • He was a lousy husband.
  • Many fine books are full of that, and too many lousy books try to match it.
    — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2023
  • After all, if the food is lousy, what’s the point of the rest of it?
    — Suzanne Loudermilk, baltimoresun.com, 23 Aug. 2017
  • Howard had lousy support on the first two goals but should have had the third one.
    — Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press, 28 Feb. 2020
  • Can a company do founder mode if the founder is lousy—or lazy?
    — Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 6 Sep. 2024
  • Then again, growing up in a place that’s lousy with old stuff will do that to you.
    — Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 9 June 2026
  • Way too cheap, our margins are lousy, you guys are idiots.
    — Neil Senturia, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Sep. 2025
  • This is a movie that is lousy with tropes and conventions and clichés.
    — Todd Vanderwerff, Vox, 14 June 2018
  • Don’t think a sad story is going to squeeze you past a lousy dish.
    — Gwen Ashley Walters, azcentral, 23 Apr. 2018
  • The second was pit road is a lousy place to try to talk to a driver.
    — Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 26 May 2022
  • Sounds like a lousy way to run an awards show, but nobody’s asking me.
    — Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 16 Sep. 2024
  • What a lousy effort by the home team, which managed to eke out two hits.
    — Jon Greenberg, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
  • And the pay is lousy -- not enough to live on even if you are employed four or five days a week.
    — cleveland, 14 Oct. 2020
  • There will be time for work, life will be lousy with it, but play is the best way to get through the day.
    — Michael Scott, cleveland.com, 16 June 2019
  • It's been said that the one thing all great authors have in common is lousy first drafts.
    — Josh Linkner, Detroit Free Press, 6 June 2020
  • Both are lousy choices, but one is clearly worse than the other.
    — Patrick Eddington, Oc Register, 25 Sep. 2025
  • The past 15 years has been a lousy time to sell life insurance.
    — Leslie Scism, wsj.com, 17 Apr. 2023
  • And one sale could make the difference between a good month and a lousy one.
    — Julia Halperin, New York Times, 27 Sep. 2023
  • The present and past are lousy predictors of the future.
    — John Tamny, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026
  • The state of press freedom worldwide is lousy and getting worse.
    — The Hive, 27 Apr. 2017
  • The boos will still be heard during lousy games, just Twitter style.
    — Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 23 June 2020
  • And he was stuck with a lousy Carolina team that lost its last eight games.
    — Bruce Jenkins, SFChronicle.com, 31 Dec. 2019
  • That way the fans don’t know the hitter thinks the umpire is doing a lousy job.
    — Lee Judge special To The Star, kansascity, 11 July 2018
  • The iron shot went into a lousy lie in the deep rough and started the bogey string.
    — Tim Dahlberg, Star Tribune, 9 Aug. 2020

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

Last Updated: