loser

[loo-zer]

See more synonyms for loser on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person, team, nation, etc., that loses: The visiting team was the loser in the series.
Informal.
1. a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor or, especially, a felony: a two-time loser.
2. a person who has failed at a particular activity: a loser at marriage.
3. 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.

Origin of loser

1300–50; Middle English losere destroyer; see lose, -er¹

Related formsnon·los·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for loser

also-ran, underdog, deadbeat, flop, dud, defeated, failure, has-been, disadvantaged, underprivileged, down-and-outer

Examples from the Web for loser

Contemporary Examples of loser

In rambling posts, he called himself a loser, and wrote that he must be either bipolar or a psychopath.
School Shooters Love This Pickup Artist Website
Brandy Zadrozny
December 5, 2014
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 Martyrs
Michael 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 Subway
Kevin Zawacki
August 8, 2014
After all, the smart money says any controversial action is considered a loser in an election year.
Border Kids Crisis—Impotent Congress
John Avlon
July 10, 2014

Historical Examples of loser

The company proceed to play at faro, the bank being the loser.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 15, July 9, 1870
Various
I am a loser also; the forfeit money bequeathed to me is gone.
Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete
Edward 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 Christian
Hall Caine
I––I have not seen what was before me, and I shall always be the loser.
Hidden Water
Dane Coolidge

British Dictionary definitions for loser

loser

noun

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

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

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.

Idioms and Phrases with loser

loser

see under finders, keepers.