Meaning of lose in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Verb
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    /luz/

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  1. 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

  2. 2. fail to win

    Examples

    • « We lost the battle but we won the war »

    Antonyms

    Derived terms

  3. 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. 4. place (something) where one cannot find it again

    Examples

    • « I misplaced my eyeglasses »
  5. 5. miss from one's possessions

    Examples

    • « lose sight of »
    • « I've lost my glasses again! »

    Antonyms

    Derived terms

  6. 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. 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

    Derived terms

  8. 8. fail to get or obtain

    Examples

    • « I lost the opportunity to spend a year abroad »

    Antonyms

  9. 9. retreat

    Antonyms

    Derived terms

  10. 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. 11. be set at a disadvantage

    Examples

    • « This author really suffers in translation »

Famous quotes

  • « I don't get angry very often. I lose my temper rarely. And when I do, there's always a legitimate cause. Normally I have a great lightness of being. I take things in a very happy, amused way. »
    Julia Roberts
  • « One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. »
    Andre Gide
  • « In all our associations in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim - that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people. »
    George Mason
  • « My sweetest hope is to lose hope. »
    Pierre Corneille
  • « Greece's European neighbors were able step in and bolster the weak foundation on which Greece's free-spending budget was based. It would be difficult for any country, or intergovernmental organization, to rescue an economy the size of the U.S. if investors were ever to lose faith in our bonds because of our enormous debt. »
    Douglas Wilder

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