let go
Idioms-
Allow to escape, set free, as in The police decided to let him go . [c. 1300]
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Also, let go of . Release one's hold on, as in Please let go of my sleeve , or Once he starts on this subject, he never lets go . [Early 1400s]
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let it go . Allow it to stand or be accepted. For example, Let it go; we needn't discuss it further . This usage is sometimes amplified to let it go at that , meaning “allow matters to stand as they are.” [Late 1800s]
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Cease to employ, dismiss, as in They had to let 20 workers go .
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Also, let oneself go . Behave without restraint, abandon one's inhibitions; also, neglect one's personal hygiene and appearance. For example, When the music began, Jean let herself go and started a wild dance , or After her husband's death she let herself go, forgetting to bathe and staying in her nightgown all day . The first sense dates from the late 1800s, the second from the early 1900s.
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.
In the following weeks and months, former workers tagged social-media posts about their departures with #Club9000, indicating the roughly 9,000 workers laid off globally, or #Club5000, for those let go in Denmark.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
But he got just 63 more big-league at-bats for Montreal before being let go two years later.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
With work, she says she has let go of resentment over how she was treated – and remains immensely grateful to the people who stood by her.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
She doesn’t . . . but a production-inserted twist does, because the self-serving persona Coco creates is too good to let go.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2021
“We’re gonna have to let go once the race starts,” Jonah tells me, holding up our hands.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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.
