loser
Americannoun
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losers
plural
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a person, team, nation, etc., that loses.
The visiting team was the loser in the series.
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Informal.
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a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor or, especially, a felony.
a two-time loser.
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a person who has failed at a particular activity.
a loser at marriage.
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someone or something that is marked by consistently or thoroughly bad quality, performance, etc. (opposed to winner).
Don't bother to see that film, it's a real loser.
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Slang. a misfit, especially someone who has never or seldom been successful at a job, personal relationship, etc.
noun
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a person or thing that loses
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a person or thing that seems destined to be taken advantage of, fail, etc
a born loser
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bridge a card that will not take a trick
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of loser
Explanation
A loser is the team or person that did not win or succeed. In pond hockey, the loser has to hose down the ice to make it smooth again. You may have heard loser used to insult someone who has not had a lot of success in life, someone who might not have many friends. This mean slang took root in the 1950s but it wasn't until the 1990s that kids who loved indie rock reclaimed it as an anti-hero badge of honor, wearing t-shirts with "Loser" written in huge letters across the front. This ironic gesture was meant to show the jocks who the real cool kids were.
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.
See Examples For:
Next up: Josh Allen and the 3-1 Buffalo Bills, a 29-26 loser Sunday against the New England Patriots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
With every merger there’s a dominant and a submissive, an alpha and a beta, a winner and a loser.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Read: Palantir’s stock stages best week since 2024 — showing it’s no longer an ‘AI loser’
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
"Look, when you're a prosecutor, you're expected to win every time. They made a difficult decision to charge a case that a lot of people thought might be a loser," he explained.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
Her hair is a sad, ragged helmet, like she’s the loser in the war.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
"But you know what, games are games, and just as there are winners, so there have to be losers."
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
“Slower AI” could describe at least three economic events, each with a different collection of winners and losers.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Assuming AI doesn’t end humanity, which would be pretty terrible for the stock market, the wave of caution is creating both winners and losers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Tengler acknowledged that chip makers and memory providers could be initial losers from increased regulation, but she highlighted that investors are still trying to sort out the implications of an AI slowdown.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
“I thought only losers stayed after school,” he said as I hovered in front of Twig’s locker.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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.
