lossy

American

[law-see, los-ee] / ˈlɔ si, ˈlɒs i /

adjective

Electricity.

(of a material or transmission line) causing appreciable loss or dissipation of energy.

lossy British

/ ˈlɒsɪ /

adjective

(of a dielectric material, transmission line, etc) designed to have a high attenuation; dissipating energy Compare lossless

lossy line

"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

Etymology

Origin of lossy

First recorded in 1945–50; loss + -y ¹

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:

lossy

However, solar power, batteries and in particular those in electric vehicles, and computers all depend on DC, making lossy AC-to-DC conversion necessary.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 19, 2024

Every time lossy video compression is applied to the video, the image quality drops.

From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2019

It supports audio formats up to 24-bit/192kHz without lossy compression.

From The Verge ● Feb. 8, 2019

Although metals are often described as lossy dielectric materials at optical wavelengths, they nevertheless support currents and can be used to form the optical equivalent of patch antennas.

From Nature ● Dec. 11, 2012

In order to decrease file sizes significantly, we must employ lossy compression algorithms.

From Library of Congress Workshop on Etexts by Library of Congress

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023