Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

philadelphia lawyer

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.23 in modern English

Syllables: philadel-phi-a lawyer
IPA

35

Scrabble Score

18

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A clever, crafty, or otherwise extremely adroit practitioner of law.

American usage

Etymology

Possibly derived from Andrew Hamilton's skillful defense of John Peter Zenger in 1735, though, as the phrase is not attested until 1788, this is uncertain.

Usage

American usage

Inflected Forms

Philadelphia lawyers (plural)

Synonyms

legal beagle legal eagle

Questions

What does philadelphia lawyer mean?: A clever, crafty, or otherwise extremely adroit practitioner of law.
Where does philadelphia lawyer come from?: Possibly derived from Andrew Hamilton's skillful defense of John Peter Zenger in 1735, though, as the phrase is not attested until 1788, this is uncertain.

How to pronounce philadelphia lawyer

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