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:
So although it’s always worth taking them with a grain of salt, last night’s bigger loser was betting markets, whose predictive power in Wisconsin was effectively zero.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2026
Retirement plans are not created equally, which means comparing your account balance to someone else’s will give you no real winner or loser.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
This tactic is creating a new loser in the consolidation of higher education: thousands of philanthropists who have donated billions of dollars to colleges and universities across generations, reports Douglas Belkin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Shares have gone from AI loser to winner and back again as investors fret about higher interest rates and hyperscalers’ aggressive AI spending plans.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Of the balance, 65 percent would go to the winner and 35 percent to the loser.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Premier League opening weekend - who were the big winners and losers?
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Rasgon said in a note to clients that the competition among chip makers should be focused on the size of the opportunity, rather than on winners and losers.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
“Just hearing about this dumb $20 burrito debate so just thought I’d make the losers on social media angry before going to bed,” Crenshaw wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Global IT spending is racing toward $6.37 trillion this year, but Amazon just showed what will separate winners from losers as that money gets spent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
All-stars had to guard losers like me, and vice versa.
From "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie
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.
