loss

American  

[laws, los] / lɔs, lɒs /

noun

1. detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get.

   to bear the loss of a robbery.

   Antonyms:

   gain

2. something that is lost.

   The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.

3. an amount or number lost.

   The loss of life increased each day.

4. the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had.

   the loss of old friends.

   Synonyms:

   deprivation, privation

5. death, or the fact of being dead.

   to mourn the loss of a grandparent.

6. the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc..

   to discover the loss of a document.

7. a losing by defeat; failure to win.

   the loss of a bet.

8. failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.

9. failure to preserve or maintain.

   loss of engine speed at high altitudes.

10. destruction or ruin.

    the loss of a ship by fire.

11. 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.

12. Military.

    1. the losing of soldiers by death, capture, etc.

    2. Often losses. the number of soldiers so lost.

13. Insurance. occurrence of an event, as death or damage of property, for which the insurer makes indemnity under the terms of a policy.

14. 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.

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idioms

1. at a loss,

   1. at less than cost; at a financial loss.

   2. in a state of bewilderment or uncertainty; puzzled; perplexed.

      We are completely at a loss for an answer to the problem.

loss British  

/ lɒs /

noun

1. the act or an instance of losing

2. the disadvantage or deprivation resulting from losing

   a loss of reputation

3. the person, thing, or amount lost

   a large loss

4. (plural) military personnel lost by death or capture

5. (sometimes plural) the amount by which the costs of a business transaction or operation exceed its revenue

6. 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

7. insurance

   1. an occurrence of something that has been insured against, thus giving rise to a claim by a policyholder

   2. the amount of the resulting claim

8. 1. uncertain what to do; bewildered

   2. rendered helpless (for lack of something)

      at a loss for words

   3. at less than the cost of buying, producing, or maintaining (something)

      the business ran at a loss for several years

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loss More Idioms  

1. see at a loss; cut one's losses; dead loss.

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Other Word Forms

• preloss noun

Etymology

Origin of loss

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English los “destruction”; cognate with Old Norse los “looseness, breakup”; lose ( def. ), loose ( def. ), -less ( def. ), lorn ( def. )

Explanation

If you no longer have something, you experience a loss, like the loss of a favorite sock. When something lessens, or gets smaller, that's also a loss, as in weight loss. Loss has lots of opposites that help define what it means. It is the opposite of win, gain, found, or earn. You can take a loss in a game or a race or by misplacing or just plain losing something like a cell phone or money. When a business has more expenses than it can cover in sales, that, too, is called a loss. A difficult loss is when a friend, relative, or pet dies.

Example Sentences

That charge, plus $33.9 million in restructuring costs, resulted in a loss of 85 cents a share before adjustments.

From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026

Carrick has guided United into the Champions League qualification places impressively, but suffered the first home loss of his time in charge against Leeds United on Monday.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

However, the study makes clear that without immediate action to stop forest loss, the world could lose one of its most important natural systems for storing carbon.

From Science Daily • Apr. 13, 2026

The loss of Iranian crude exports is likely to intensify a worldwide scramble for crude.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

The total losses he left behind him were reported to the Morgan Stanley board as a bit more than $9 billion: the single largest trading loss in the history of Wall Street.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

• accident
• casualty
• catastrophe
• cost
• damage
• debt
• defeat
• deficit
• destruction
• disaster
• failure
• fall
• injury
• markdown
• trouble