loser
[loo-zer]
- a person, team, nation, etc., that loses: The visiting team was the loser in the series.
- Informal.
- a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor or, especially, a felony: a two-time loser.
- a person who has failed at a particular activity: a loser at marriage.
- someone or something that is marked by consistently or thoroughly bad quality, performance, etc.: Don't bother to see that film, it's a real loser.
- Slang. a misfit, especially someone who has never or seldom been successful at a job, personal relationship, etc.
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Origin of loser
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for loser
Contemporary Examples
In rambling posts, he called himself a loser, and wrote that he must be either bipolar or a psychopath.
This is a fight that immigration reform advocates believe is a loser for the GOP.
Get Ready to Start Hearing About ‘Executive Amnesty for Anchor Babies’Eleanor Clift
November 19, 2014
As McCain and Kastigar and too many others have shown, all the bad guys need to do is offer a way to stop feeling like a loser.
American Jihadis Douglas McCain and Troy Kastigar: From Losers to MartyrsMichael Daly
August 28, 2014
But a new poll says the winner (or loser) is lucky number 2.
Leaky Ceilings, Catcalls, and Uncaged Pythons: 4 Hours on NYC’s Worst SubwayKevin Zawacki
August 8, 2014
After all, the smart money says any controversial action is considered a loser in an election year.
Historical Examples
The company proceed to play at faro, the bank being the loser.
I am a loser also; the forfeit money bequeathed to me is gone.
Alice, or The Mysteries, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
It seemed he couldn't lose, and he was as unpleasant a winner as he was a loser.
Goodbye, Dead Man!Tom W. Harris
Running a race with that old man in the box which can find a loser first.
The ChristianHall Caine
I––I have not seen what was before me, and I shall always be the loser.
Hidden WaterDane Coolidge
loser
- a person or thing that loses
- a person or thing that seems destined to be taken advantage of, fail, etca born loser
- bridge a card that will not take a trick
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for loser
n.
mid-14c., "a destroyer," agent noun from lose (v.). Sense of "one who suffers loss" is from 1540s; meaning "horse that loses a race" is from 1902; "convicted criminal" is from 1912; "hapless person" is 1955 student slang.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with loser
loser
see under finders, keepers.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.