loophole

American  

[loop-hohl] / ˈlupˌhoʊl /

noun

• loopholes
  plural

1. a means of escape or evasion; a means or opportunity of evading a rule, law, etc..

   There are a number of loopholes in the tax laws whereby corporations can save money.

2. a small or narrow opening, as in a wall, for looking through, for admitting light and air, or, particularly in a fortification, for the discharge of missiles against an enemy outside.

3. an opening or aperture.

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verb (used with object)

• loopholes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• loopholed,
  past participle,  past
• loopholing
  present participle

1. to furnish with loopholes.

loophole British  

/ ˈluːpˌhəʊl /

noun

1. an ambiguity, omission, etc, as in a law, by which one can avoid a penalty or responsibility

2. a small gap or hole in a wall, esp one in a fortified wall

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verb

1. (tr) to provide with loopholes

Usage

What is a loophole? A loophole is an absence or something vague in a rule or law that allows a person to avoid punishment, as in I was able to keep an alligator in my apartment thanks to a loophole in the housing rules that said only “no dogs allowed.” Loopholes often result from poor wording or vague language in a rule or law. Generally, we can expect that anything that is not specifically forbidden or illegal must be allowed. However, this expectation sometimes allows people to get around the law by not violating the exact wording of that law. For example, a law may say that no one is allowed to walk on the sidewalk after dark. People take advantage of the loophole in this law by skipping, running, or jogging on the sidewalk when it is dark. Technically, they haven’t done anything forbidden by the law so they could not be punished for it. People who write laws and contracts try to avoid potential loopholes by using very specific language. Parents often have to do the same thing to avoid their children getting around their rules. Example: The companies used a loophole in the tax code to avoid paying taxes by registering themselves as charities.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• loopholes
  plural

Participles

• loopholing
  present
• loopholed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• loophole
  simple
• loopholes
  simple
• have loopholed
  perfect
• has loopholed
  perfect
• am loopholing
  progressive
• are loopholing
  progressive
• is loopholing
  progressive
• have been loopholing
  perfect progressive
• has been loopholing
  perfect progressive

Past

• loopholed
  simple
• had loopholed
  perfect
• was loopholing
  progressive
• were loopholing
  progressive
• had been loopholing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will loophole
  simple
• will have loopholed
  perfect
• will be loopholing
  progressive
• will have been loopholing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of loophole

First recorded in 1585–95; loop ² + hole

Explanation

A loophole is an accidental technicality or unclear section of a written document that allows someone to avoid following a rule or fulfilling an obligation. If you've discovered a way to get out of paying taxes on money you made last year, you've found a loophole. There can also be loopholes in politics, where politicians get away with something through a technicality. And if a criminal goes free despite being found guilty of a crime, it might be because of some unforeseen loophole in the law. The original loopholes were narrow slits in a fortress or wall through which defenders could safely shoot arrows — it was seen as an unfair advantage by some, which resulted in the modern meaning of loophole.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

loophole loopholes loopholed loopholing

A "parliamentary loophole" was created to get around this, according to the History of Parliament blog, external.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Shein was valued at $100 billion in a 2022 funding round but has been hit hard by the loss of a U.S. loophole that had let it ship low-cost products tariff-free.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Compounding the anonymity, these shell companies often benefit from an enormous loophole: They rarely pay federal taxes.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

Rather than uncovering a loophole, they appear to have landed themselves squarely in legal jeopardy.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

And just as she’d found a loophole to allow her to make and sell whatnots, she found a loophole to allow her to use her own whatnots as body doubles.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

While pacing the frontier sounds compelling in theory, some believe these ambiguous definitions and loopholes make a slowdown functionally impossible.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

The family say they are working alongside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in a bid to remove "loopholes" from current legislation around banned dog breeds.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

“There may be loopholes that folks find in this one, and they have to follow up and close those loopholes,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Missouri’s Legislature passed a law last year to protect residential consumers from price spikes caused by large users, though critics complain it has loopholes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Oracular ambiguity or statistical probability provides loopholes, and discrepancies are expunged by Faith.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Any legislation however altruistic is loopholed to death.

From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2018

Swaney loopholed her way into a spot in the skiing halfpipe for Hungary and then cautiously coasted down the course.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 26, 2018

The small tanks streamed last week up the mountain road while Pathans in their little loopholed houses peered out goggle-eyed.

From Time Magazine Archive

The heavy gold was stowed into armored trucks, ominously loopholed.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here trenches were dug, barbed-wire entanglements set up, barns and cottages loopholed and placed in a state of defence in order to keep in check the German hordes until the expected aid was forthcoming.

From The Dispatch-Riders The Adventures of Two British Motor-cyclists in the Great War by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

Author Stern began explaining the not-so-fine art of legal tax loopholing nine years ago in The Great Treasury Raid.

From Time Magazine Archive

These he made use of as forts, throwing into them little garrisons, and loopholing the walls.

From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 11 by Rossiter Johnson

The enemy’s position was naturally strong, and was rendered more so by blockhouses, a stone fort and entrenchments cut in solid rock, and the loopholing of a solidly built stone church.

From The Boys of '98 by James Otis

They went to work, however, with a will, and for more than two hours employed themselves in loopholing the walls and constructing barricades between the two houses.

From Perils in the Transvaal and Zululand by H.C. Adams