loose sentence
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of loose sentence
First recorded in 1890–95
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.
With their loose sentence structure and the melodic give and take allowing a team approach to conversation I knew they were Guyanese.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
![]()
Further praise E.K. grants the author because he avoids loose sentence structure and affects the oratorical period.
From Rhetoric and Poetry in the Renaissance A Study of Rhetorical Terms in English Renaissance Literary Criticism by Clark, Donald Lemen
The loose sentence is easy, informal, and familiar; the periodic is stiff, artificial, and aristocratic.
From English: Composition and Literature by Webster, W. F. (William Franklin)
Tis love indeed to thee, but to my heart Every loose sentence is a killing dart.
From A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 4 by Bullen, A. H. (Arthur Henry)
A loose sentence may be broken at some point before the end, and up to that point be grammatically a complete sentence.
From English: Composition and Literature by Webster, W. F. (William Franklin)
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.