loss
detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get: to bear the loss of a robbery.
something that is lost: The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.
an amount or number lost: The loss of life increased each day.
the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had: the loss of old friends.
death, or the fact of being dead: to mourn the loss of a grandparent.
the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc.: to discover the loss of a document.
a losing by defeat; failure to win: the loss of a bet.
failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.
failure to preserve or maintain: loss of engine speed at high altitudes.
destruction or ruin: the loss of a ship by fire.
a thing or a number of related things that are lost or destroyed to some extent: Most buildings in the burned district were a total loss.
Military.
the losing of soldiers by death, capture, etc.
Often losses. the number of soldiers so lost.
Insurance. occurrence of an event, as death or damage of property, for which the insurer makes indemnity under the terms of a policy.
Electricity. a measure of the power lost in a system, as by conversion to heat, expressed as a relation between power input and power output, as the ratio of or difference between the two quantities.
Idioms about loss
at a loss,
at less than cost; at a financial loss.
in a state of bewilderment or uncertainty; puzzled; perplexed: We are completely at a loss for an answer to the problem.
Origin of loss
1Other words for loss
Opposites for loss
Other words from loss
- pre·loss, noun
Words that may be confused with loss
- lose, loss
Words Nearby loss
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use loss in a sentence
It’s far from the only retailer to have suffered similar losses over the past six months.
Why bankruptcy is rarely the end for retailers in dire straits | Alexandra Ossola | September 17, 2020 | QuartzSales rose 133% in the first half of 2020 to $242 million, while its net loss declined 3% to $171 million from the same period a year ago.
Snowflake CEO: Doubling of stock price after IPO reflects ‘frothy’ market | Aaron Pressman | September 16, 2020 | FortuneKhudobin’s regular-season form suggested the Stars would be in good shape for a deep playoff run, the loss of their No.
Teams Don’t Win The Stanley Cup With A Goal Deficit. Can The Dallas Stars Change That? | Terrence Doyle | September 16, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightJob losses at banks this year are on course to be the deepest for half a decade.
The incredibly shrinking banking sector is heading for near-record job losses this year | Bernhard Warner | September 16, 2020 | FortuneYou can view this as an adaptation in the female mouse, an ability to cut her losses when there’s the scent of a new male in town.
How do you celebrate when happy occasions are colored by loss and absence?
Everyone at This Dinner Party Has Lost Someone | Samantha Levine | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTOne topic that comes up among the members, she says, is dealing with loss years later.
Everyone at This Dinner Party Has Lost Someone | Samantha Levine | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTTo look at her in tears was to behold the enormity of her loss.
The fact that he was celebrating another loss for the star-crossed city of Detroit only enhances the symbolism.
One specific kind of emergency is at the heart of this, such as when an airplane suffers a loss of stability at night.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly? | Clive Irving | January 4, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThere was no doubt thought of his own loss in this question: yet there was, one may hope, a germ of solicitude for the mother too.
Children's Ways | James SullyBut if what I told him were true, he was still at a loss how a kingdom could run out of its estate like a private person.
Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan SwiftHence arise factions, dissensions, and loss to their religious interests and work; and these intruders seek to rule the others.
There was a great comparing of papers, and turning over of leaves, by Fogg and Perker, after this statement of profit and loss.
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, v. 2(of 2) | Charles DickensThe worst loss is that of Winston's ear; high principles won't obtain high explosives.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian Hamilton
British Dictionary definitions for loss
/ (lɒs) /
the act or an instance of losing
the disadvantage or deprivation resulting from losing: a loss of reputation
the person, thing, or amount lost: a large loss
(plural) military personnel lost by death or capture
(sometimes plural) the amount by which the costs of a business transaction or operation exceed its revenue
a measure of the power lost in an electrical system expressed as the ratio of or difference between the input power and the output power
insurance
an occurrence of something that has been insured against, thus giving rise to a claim by a policyholder
the amount of the resulting claim
at a loss
uncertain what to do; bewildered
rendered helpless (for lack of something): at a loss for words
at less than the cost of buying, producing, or maintaining (something): the business ran at a loss for several years
Origin of loss
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with loss
see at a loss; cut one's losses; dead loss.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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