let loose
Americanidiom
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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.
She sang open-throated declarations, recited broken poetic verses, scatted with the authority of a jazz singer, moaned with bluesy intent, and occasionally let loose an unbridled shriek or giggle.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026
What was it like to really let loose like that?
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2025
But hear us out: The Matic is the best robot vacuum we’ve ever let loose on our filthy floors.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 23, 2025
It is important to see him let loose.
From BBC • Nov. 3, 2025
Da had told us it wound around the coast like a ball of yarn let loose, but if you stayed on it, you’d reach the port and the ships.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
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.
