lose
- to come to be without (something in one's possession or care), through accident, theft, etc., so that there is little or no prospect of recovery: I'm sure I've merely misplaced my hat, not lost it.
- to fail inadvertently to retain (something) in such a way that it cannot be immediately recovered: I just lost a dime under this sofa.
- to suffer the deprivation of: to lose one's job; to lose one's life.
- to be bereaved of by death: to lose a sister.
- to fail to keep, preserve, or maintain: to lose one's balance; to lose one's figure.
- (of a clock or watch) to run slower by: The watch loses three minutes a day.
- to give up; forfeit the possession of: to lose a fortune at the gaming table.
- to get rid of: to lose one's fear of the dark; to lose weight; She needs to lose those bangs!
- to bring to destruction or ruin (usually used passively): Ship and crew were lost.
- to condemn to hell; damn.
- to have slip from sight, hearing, attention, etc.: to lose him in the crowd.
- to stray from or become ignorant of (one's way, directions, etc.): to lose one's bearings.
- to leave far behind in a pursuit, race, etc.; outstrip: She managed to lose the other runners on the final lap of the race.
- to use to no purpose; waste: to lose time in waiting.
- to fail to have, get, catch, etc.; miss: to lose a bargain.
- to fail to win (a prize, stake, etc.): to lose a bet.
- to be defeated in (a game, lawsuit, battle, etc.): He has lost very few cases in his career as a lawyer.
- to cause the loss of: The delay lost the battle for them.
- to let (oneself) go astray, miss the way, etc.: We lost ourselves in the woods.
- to allow (oneself) to become absorbed or engrossed in something and oblivious to all else: I had lost myself in thought.
- (of a physician or other medical personnel) to fail to preserve the life of (a patient): The doctor came out of the operating room and sadly said, “So sorry. We lost him.”
- (of a woman) to fail to be delivered of (a live baby) because of miscarriage, complications in childbirth, etc.
- to suffer loss: to lose on a contract.
- to suffer defeat or fail to win, as in a contest, race, or game: We played well, but we lost.
- to depreciate in effectiveness or in some other essential quality: a classic that loses in translation.
- (of a clock, watch, etc.) to run slow.
- lose out, to suffer defeat or loss; fail to obtain something desired: He got through the preliminaries, but lost out in the finals.
- lose face. face(def 51).
- lose it, Informal. to suddenly lose control of one's emotions: When he said he loved me, I nearly lost it.
Origin of lose
Related Words for lose
suffer, squander, drop, fail, waste, surrender, forget, decline, fall, bereave, consume, forfeit, misplace, lavish, deplete, miss, capitulate, dissipate, rob, exhaustExamples from the Web for lose
Contemporary Examples of lose
A lot of people ring in the New Year with vows to lose weight and exercise.
The problem, says UC Davis physiologist and nutritionist Linda Bacon, is that very few people can lose weight and keep it off.
“I guess it was their first incident where they lose a plane,” said Dobersberger, the travel agent.
You lose connectivity between portions of your brain, and some regions even experience shrinkage, according to Williams.
Instead, Washington, who famously proclaimed “What brave men I must this day lose!”
The British Royals Reinvade Brooklyn: William and Kate Come Watch Basketball on Historic Battle SiteJustin Jones
December 6, 2014
Historical Examples of lose
After all, what vast privileges do you lose with your citizenship.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
Do this up to the limit of your capital and I will make good anything you lose.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Then all I can say is, that when you lose it you'll be in a bad pickle.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
He had become so wedded to his gold that to lose it was like losing his heart's blood.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
He feared now she meant to lose it irrevocably through remarriage.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
lose
- to part with or come to be without, as through theft, accident, negligence, etc
- to fail to keep or maintainto lose one's balance
- to suffer the loss or deprivation ofto lose a parent
- to cease to have or possess
- to fail to get or make use ofto lose a chance
- (also intr) to fail to gain or win (a contest, game, etc)to lose the match
- to fail to see, hear, perceive, or understandI lost the gist of his speech
- to wasteto lose money gambling
- to wander from so as to be unable to findto lose one's way
- to cause the loss ofhis delay lost him the battle
- to allow to go astray or out of sightwe lost him in the crowd
- (usually passive) to absorb or engrosshe was lost in contemplation
- (usually passive) to cause the death or destruction oftwo men were lost in the attack
- to outdistance or eludehe soon lost his pursuers
- (intr) to decrease or depreciate in value or effectivenesspoetry always loses in translation
- (also intr) (of a timepiece) to run slow (by a specified amount)the clock loses ten minutes every day
- (of a physician) to fail to sustain the life of (a patient)
- (of a woman) to fail to give birth to (a viable baby), esp as the result of a miscarriage
- motor racing slang to lose control of (the car), as on a bendhe lost it going into Woodcote
- lose it slang to lose control of oneself or one's temper
Word Origin for lose
Word Origin and History for lose
Old English losian "be lost, perish," from los "destruction, loss," from Proto-Germanic *lausa- (cf. Old Norse los "the breaking up of an army;" Old English forleosan "to lose, destroy," Old Frisian forliasa, Old Saxon farliosan, Middle Dutch verliesen, Old High German firliosan, German verlieren), from PIE root *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart, untie, separate" (cf. Sanskrit lunati "cuts, cuts off," lavitram "sickle;" Greek lyein "to loosen, untie, slacken," lysus "a loosening;" Latin luere "to loose, release, atone for, expiate").
Replaced related leosan (a class II strong verb whose past participle loren survives in forlorn and lovelorn), from Proto-Germanic *leusanan (cf. Old High German virliosan, German verlieren, Old Frisian urliasa, Gothic fraliusan "to lose").
Transitive sense of "to part with accidentally" is from c.1200. Meaning "fail to maintain" is from mid-15c. Meaning "to be defeated" (in a game, etc.) is from 1530s. Meaning "to cause (someone) to lose his way" is from 1640s. To lose (one's) mind "become insane" is attested from c.1500. To lose out "fail" is 1858, American English. Related: Lost; losing.
Idioms and Phrases with lose
lose
In addition to the idioms beginning with lose
- lose face
- lose ground
- lose heart
- lose it
- lose no time
- lose one's bearings
- lose one's buttons
- lose one's cool
- lose oneself in
- lose one's grip
- lose one's head
- lose one's hear to
- lose one's lunch
- lose one's marbles
- lose one's mind
- lose one's nerve
- lose one's shirt
- lose one's temper
- lose one's touch
- lose out
- lose sight of
- lose sleep over
- lose the thread
- lose time
- lose touch
- lose track
also see:
- get (lose) one's bearings
- keep (lose) one's cool
- keep (lose) track
- win some, lose some
Also see underlosinglost.