lose
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: lo͞oz
ipa: /luːz/
homophone: loos
rhymes: -uːz
enpr: lōz
ipa: /lɔːz/
Forms: form: loses
form: losing
form: lost
form: lost
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: lose
form: lose
form: lost
form: lose
form: losest
form: lost
form: lostest
form: loses
form: loseth
form: lost
form: lose
form: lost
form: lose
form: lost
form: lose
form: -
form: losing
form: lost
Etymology: From Middle English losen, from Old English losian, from Proto-West Germanic *losōn, from Proto-Germanic *lusōną, *luzōną, from Proto-Germanic *lusą. The modern pronunciation with /uː/ (instead of the /oʊ~əʊ/ that would be expected from Early Modern /ɔː/) is due to conflation with loose.
Senses: examples: text: If you lose that ten-pound note, you'll be sorry.
text: He lost his hearing in the explosion.
text: She lost her position when the company was taken over.
text: Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: Douglas: I took some of the pension money out of the bank and I lost it on a horse.
Nolan: Gambling with our employees' pensions?
Douglas: Gambling? No. I was riding the horse. It fell out of my pocket.
ref: 2008 November 21, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 3, Episode 1
text: Forest, who lost striker Kris Boyd to injury seconds before half-time, produced little after the break, with a Tyson sliced shot from 12 yards their only opportunity of note.
ref: 2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2-1 Nott'm Forest”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
examples: text: Johnny lost a tooth, but kept it for the tooth fairy.
text: He lost his spleen in a car wreck.
glosses: To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
To have (an organ) removed from one's body, especially by accident.
examples: text: I’ve lost five pounds this week.
glosses: To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
To shed (weight).
examples: text: She lost all her sons in the war.
text: I hold it true, whate’er befall;
⁠I feel it, when I sorrow most;
⁠’Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXVII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 44:
glosses: To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
To experience the death of (someone to whom one has an attachment, such as a relative or friend).
examples: text: Frank had lost $500 staying in Vegas.
glosses: To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
To pay or owe (some wager) due from an unsuccessful bet or gamble.
examples: Users who engage in disruptive behavior may lose their accounts.
glosses: To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
To be deprived of (some right or privileged access to something).
examples: text: I lost my way in the forest.
text: He hath lost his fellows.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
glosses: To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; to go astray from.
examples: text: We lost the football match.
text: You just lost The Game.
text: I fought the battle bravely which I lost, / And lost it but to Macedonians.
ref: 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy:
text: Well, some news from overseas: according to a new report, Russia is now buying military supplies from North Korea. Yep, Russia's asking North Korea for help. Uh, tell us you're losing the war without telling us you're losing the war.
ref: 2022 September 7, 5:25 from the start, in Trump Tried to Pay Lawyer with a Horse, Also Stole Material on Foreign Nation's Nuclear Capabilities (Comedy), spoken by Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, archived from the original on 08 Sep 2022:
glosses: To become a defeated competitor in (a game, competition, trial, etc).
examples: text: The team scored four goals but still managed to lose.
glosses: To be defeated (in a game, competition, contest, etc.)
examples: text: The policeman lost the robber he was chasing.
text: Mission control lost the satellite as its signal died down.
glosses: To be unable to follow or trace (somebody or something) any longer.
examples: text: lose the cops
text: We managed to lose our pursuers in the forest.
glosses: To cause (somebody) to be unable to follow or trace one any longer.
examples: text: I can see Mickie getting hot, I'm about to grab his arm, hold him back, say, Whoa, whoa, Mick, not here, it ain't worth it what happened inside just now. But I don't need to because Mickie loses his anger, starts smiling at ponytail, then melodramatically starts looking around at the men and women on the street going in and out of the courthouse.
ref: 2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 134:
text: Her attitude was so bad my mother wound up telling her, “You know we really don't have to be standing here talking to you, so you can lose the attitude or you can leave.
ref: 2012, Tracy Brooks, Dancing in the Rain, →ISBN, page 349:
glosses: To cease exhibiting; to overcome (a behavior or emotion).
examples: text: When we get into the building, please lose the hat.
text: You can bet that the next woman who "loses" the top half of her bikini at the beach was born under the sign of Libra.
ref: 1976, Martine, Sexual Astrology:
glosses: To shed, remove, discard, or eliminate.
examples: text: My watch loses five minutes a week.
text: It's already 5:30? My watch must have lost a few minutes.
glosses: Of a clock, to run slower than expected.
examples: text: O false heart! thou hadst almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and lost me this glory.
ref: 1650, Richard Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest:
text: a. 1699, Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet, On the Excesses of Grief
How should you go about to lose him a wife he loves with so much passion?
text: This lost Catholicism […] any semblance of a claim to special status, and also highlighted the gains which other religious formations had derived from the Revolution.
ref: 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 556:
glosses: To cause (someone) the loss of something; to deprive of.
examples: text: I lost a part of what he said.
glosses: To fail to catch with the mind or senses; to miss.
Synonyms: sense: cease to have in one's possession
word: leave behind
sense: cease to have in one's possession
word: mislay
english: something
translation: something
word: (fail to win: forfeit
english: weight
translation: weight
word: (shed: drop, shed
sense: shed, remove, discard, eliminate
word: ditch
sense: shed, remove, discard, eliminate
word: drop
sense: shed, remove, discard, eliminate
word: dump
sense: shed, remove, discard, eliminate
word: get rid of
sense: shed, remove, discard, eliminate
word: jettison
word: forlese
word: lose
Hyponyms: word: abandon
word: drop
word: forfeit
word: give
word: give away
word: mislay
word: misplace
word: sell
Derived terms: and nothing of value was lost
be someone's to lose
for the lose
have nothing to lose
how you get them is how you lose them
lorel
lose an hour of sleep
lose caste
lose control
lose count
lose face
lose ground
lose heart
lose her head
lose his head
lose it
lose-lose
lose no time
lose one's balance
lose one's battle
lose one's bearings
lose one's bottle
lose one's cookies
lose one's cool
lose oneself
lose one's head
lose one's heart
lose one's life
lose one's lunch
lose one's marbles
lose one's mind
lose one's nerve
lose one's patience
lose one's rag
lose one's shirt
lose one's shit
lose one's temper
lose one's tongue
lose one's touch
lose one's virginity
lose one's way
lose one's wits
lose out
lose patience
lose sight of
lose sleep
lose the bell
lose the bubble
lose the dressing room
lose the fang
lose their head
lose the number of one's mess
lose the plot
lose the run of oneself
lose the thread
lose time
lose touch
lose track
lose weight
losingly
move it or lose it
no-lose
no love lost
nonlosing
no time to lose
the wolf may lose his teeth but never his nature
unlose
use it or lose it
what you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts
what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts
win or lose
would lose one's head if it wasn't attached
would lose one's head if it wasn't bolted on
would lose one's head if it wasn't glued on
would lose one's head if it wasn't screwed on
would lose one's head if it wasn't stuck on
would lose one's head if it wasn't tied on
would lose one's head if it weren't attached
you snooze you lose
Related terms: word: losel
word: loser
word: loss
word: steal