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Meaning of lose in English
Pronunciation
/luz/
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Verb
lose
Etymology
Old English losian ‘perish, destroy’, also ‘become unable to find’, from los ‘loss’
Definitions
1.
fail to keep or to maintain
Examples
« cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense »
« She lost her purse when she left it unattended on her seat »
Antonyms
keep
hold on
2.
fail to win
Examples
« We lost the battle but we won the war »
Antonyms
win
3.
suffer the loss of a person through death or removal
Examples
« She lost her husband in the war »
« The couple that wanted to adopt the child lost her when the biological parents claimed her »
4.
place (something) where one cannot find it again
Examples
« I misplaced my eyeglasses »
5.
miss from one's possessions
Examples
« lose sight of »
« I've lost my glasses again! »
Antonyms
find
regain
6.
allow to go out of sight
Examples
« The detective lost the man he was shadowing after he had to stop at a red light »
7.
fail to make money in a business
Examples
« make a loss or fail to profit »
« I lost thousands of dollars on that bad investment! »
« The company turned a loss after the first year »
Antonyms
profit
turn a profit
break even
8.
fail to get or obtain
Examples
« I lost the opportunity to spend a year abroad »
Antonyms
acquire
win
gain
9.
retreat
Antonyms
gain
advance
win
pull ahead
make headway
get ahead
gain ground
10.
fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind
Examples
« I missed that remark »
« She missed his point »
« We lost part of what he said »
11.
be set at a disadvantage
Examples
« This author really suffers in translation »