If you describe someone or something as a lame duck, you are critical of them because they are not successful and need to be helped a lot.
[disapproval]
Look, I'm not one of your lame ducks.
...lame-duck industries.
2. countable noun [usually NOUN noun]
If you refer to a politician or a government as a lame duck, you mean that they have little real power, for example because their period of office is coming to an end.
He must recognise by now that he will be a one-term, increasingly lame duck president.
...a lame duck government.
lame duck in British English
noun
1.
a person or thing that is disabled or ineffectual
2. stock exchange
a speculator who cannot discharge his or her liabilities
3.
a company with a large workforce and high prestige that is unable to meet foreign competition without government support
4. US
a.
an elected official or body of officials remaining in office in the interval between the election and inauguration of a successor
b.
(as modifier)
a lame-duck president
5. (modifier) US
designating a term of office after which the officeholder will not run for re-election
lame duck in American English
1.
a disabled, ineffectual, or helpless person or thing
2. US
an elected official whose term extends beyond the time of the election at which he or she was not reelected
Examples of 'lame duck' in a sentence
lame duck
The lame duck president may find more joy elsewhere.