loss

[laws, los]

noun

1. detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get.

   to bear the loss of a robbery.

   Antonyms: gain

2. something that is lost.

   The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.

3. an amount or number lost.

   The loss of life increased each day.

4. the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had.

   the loss of old friends.

   Synonyms: deprivation, privation

5. death, or the fact of being dead.

   to mourn the loss of a grandparent.

6. the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc..

   to discover the loss of a document.

7. a losing by defeat; failure to win.

   the loss of a bet.

8. failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.

9. failure to preserve or maintain.

   loss of engine speed at high altitudes.

10. destruction or ruin.

    the loss of a ship by fire.

11. a thing or a number of related things that are lost or destroyed to some extent.

    Most buildings in the burned district were a total loss.

12. Military.

    1. the losing of soldiers by death, capture, etc.

    2. Often losses. the number of soldiers so lost.

13. Insurance.,  occurrence of an event, as death or damage of property, for which the insurer makes indemnity under the terms of a policy.

14. Electricity.,  a measure of the power lost in a system, as by conversion to heat, expressed as a relation between power input and power output, as the ratio of or difference between the two quantities.

loss

/ lɒs /

noun

1. the act or an instance of losing

2. the disadvantage or deprivation resulting from losing

   a loss of reputation

3. the person, thing, or amount lost

   a large loss

4. (plural) military personnel lost by death or capture

5. (sometimes plural) the amount by which the costs of a business transaction or operation exceed its revenue

6. a measure of the power lost in an electrical system expressed as the ratio of or difference between the input power and the output power

7. insurance

   1. an occurrence of something that has been insured against, thus giving rise to a claim by a policyholder

   2. the amount of the resulting claim

8. 1. uncertain what to do; bewildered

   2. rendered helpless (for lack of something)

      at a loss for words

   3. at less than the cost of buying, producing, or maintaining (something)

      the business ran at a loss for several years

Other Word Forms

• preloss noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of loss¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English los “destruction”; cognate with Old Norse los “looseness, breakup”; lose ( def. ), loose ( def. ), -less ( def. ), lorn ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of loss¹

C14: noun probably formed from lost, past participle of losen to perish, from Old English lōsian to be destroyed, from los destruction

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. at a loss,

   1. at less than cost; at a financial loss.

   2. in a state of bewilderment or uncertainty; puzzled; perplexed.

      We are completely at a loss for an answer to the problem.

see at a loss; cut one's losses; dead loss.

Example Sentences

The MoD accepts it has a duty of care but disputes the extent to which hearing loss happened in some cases.

Read more on BBC

The 145 runs added after the loss of Wareham were the most by any team after the fall of their seventh wicket in women's one-day internationals.

Read more on BBC

At the least, Goodstein’s loss and the suffering of her husband and child called for compassion.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

After that, the way he dealt with the iPad's loss sounds like the sort of positive advice which made his first book such a phenomenon during the pandemic.

Read more on BBC

“How do you digest the loss of 102 people?” she said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• accident 
• casualty 
• catastrophe 
• cost 
• damage 
• debt 
• defeat 
• deficit 
• destruction 
• disaster 
• failure 
• fall 
• injury 
• markdown 
• trouble