loser
Americannoun
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losers
plural
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a person, team, nation, etc., that loses.
The visiting team was the loser in the series.
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Informal.
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a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor or, especially, a felony.
a two-time loser.
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a person who has failed at a particular activity.
a loser at marriage.
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someone or something that is marked by consistently or thoroughly bad quality, performance, etc. (opposed to winner).
Don't bother to see that film, it's a real loser.
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Slang. a misfit, especially someone who has never or seldom been successful at a job, personal relationship, etc.
noun
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a person or thing that loses
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a person or thing that seems destined to be taken advantage of, fail, etc
a born loser
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bridge a card that will not take a trick
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of loser
Explanation
A loser is the team or person that did not win or succeed. In pond hockey, the loser has to hose down the ice to make it smooth again. You may have heard loser used to insult someone who has not had a lot of success in life, someone who might not have many friends. This mean slang took root in the 1950s but it wasn't until the 1990s that kids who loved indie rock reclaimed it as an anti-hero badge of honor, wearing t-shirts with "Loser" written in huge letters across the front. This ironic gesture was meant to show the jocks who the real cool kids were.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Will I feel more like a winner, less like a loser?
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
With every merger there’s a dominant and a submissive, an alpha and a beta, a winner and a loser.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Read: Palantir’s stock stages best week since 2024 — showing it’s no longer an ‘AI loser’
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
I wanted them to tank, to forever seal Moreno’s legacy as a loser.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
“I’m feeling like a loser right now,” he told her as the carousel started moving.
From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart
Tengler acknowledged that chip makers and memory providers could be initial losers from increased regulation, but she highlighted that investors are still trying to sort out the implications of an AI slowdown.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Here's a look at the winners and losers when central banks tighten monetary policy.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
At the very least, this may be a great time to do some so-called rebalancing, which means selling recent winners and buying losers to restore the target-balance allocation in your portfolio.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
“Behavioral biases also account for some of the effect, as well—people tend to sell their winners too early and hold losers too long.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
The other detainees were a bunch of losers.
From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
