let loose
Americanidiom
past and past participle
let loose,present participle
letting loose-
to set free; release;
They let the captured mouse loose in a field.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
The crowd cheered and danced, letting loose on a late Sunday night.
From Los Angeles Times
It was fun to just let loose, with a fat prosthetic belly, and have a good time and dance.
From Los Angeles Times
As a lover of dance music, the morning coffee rave was another way for people to connect and let loose, Collinge added.
From BBC
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 Literature
Joining the party were white-collar workers looking to let loose on summer weekends, including Michael Guggenheim, a now 33-year-old corporate lawyer.
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.
