loosened
loosened is the simple past and past participle of loosen.
Meaning of loosen
Verb
loosen (third-person singular simple present loosens, present participle loosening, simple past and past participle loosened)
- To make loose.
- to loosen a knot; to loosen one's grip / hold on something
- To become loose.
- I noticed that my seatbelt had gradually loosened during the journey.
- To disengage (a device that restrains).
- At Liberty th’ unfetter’d Captive stands,
And flings the loosen’d Shackles from his Hands.1717, Joseph Addison, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, translated by the most eminent hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Book 3, p. 99
- At Liberty th’ unfetter’d Captive stands,
- To become unfastened or undone.
- Immediately my Shackles loosened and fell away of themselves […]1770, Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality, volume 5, Dublin, page 52
- To free from restraint; to set at liberty.
- This is an admirable Rule; a Painter ought to have it perpetually present in his Mind and Memory. […] it loosens his hands, and assists his understanding.1695, Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica, London: W. Rogers, page 185
- To relieve (the bowels) from constipation; to promote defecation.
- […] Feare looseneth the Belly; because the Heat retiring inwards towards the Heart, the Gutts and other Parts are relaxed;1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 1, p. 14
Adjective
loosened (comparative more loosened, superlative most loosened)
Forms of loosened
| comparative | more loosened |
|---|---|
| superlative | most loosened |
Phrases with loosened
Questions about loosened
- What does loosened mean?
- Loosened means having been made less tight or more relaxed.
- What is loosened the simple past and past participle of?
- Loosened is the simple past and past participle of loosen.
- What part of speech is loosened?
- Loosened is an adjective.
Words near loosened in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: loosened (page history and authors); loosen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-loosened.ogg.
Cite this entry: “loosened.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/loosened. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
