let loose
Americanidiom
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let loose,
past, past participle
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letting loose
present participle
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to set free; release;
They let the captured mouse loose in a field.
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to allow to act freely (often followed byon ).
I have my medical students practice putting IVs in me before I let them loose on patients.
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to act in a relaxed or uninhibited way.
It took some time to talk my dad into letting loose and playing a few games with the grandkids.
I can be serious when I need to be, but sometimes I just need to let loose and have fun.
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to utter or issue forcefully and suddenly (sometimes followed bywith ).
I let loose a shriek and made a dive for the door.
He let loose with a flurry of angry posts on the website.
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to give way; yield.
The guardrail let loose and we very nearly plunged over the edge.
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.
Under-30s have described missing out on being able to "let loose and mess around" because of a "bleak" lack of nightlife where they live.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
I fired up the AI and let loose a good long tirade about my flaky colleague…and felt as lousy as I always do when I give voice to my most judgmental instincts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
A smile, a laugh - little hints that he wanted to let loose a bit.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
As Floyd, David Harbour gets to show off his dance moves in the series: “It was fun to just let loose, with a fat prosthetic belly, and have a good time and dance.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
Beak first, a dark and secret complex, a personality disorder let loose on the world, it plunges!
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
