Word.ws English Dictionary

lose

/luːz//luz/

lose verb: to cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability. Also the alternative form of loos.

Verb

lose (third-person singular simple present loses, present participle losing, simple past and past participle lost)

  1. (transitive) To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
    • If you lose that ten-pound note, you'll be sorry.
    • He lost his hearing in the explosion.
    1. (transitive) To have (an organ) removed from one's body, especially by accident.
      • Johnny lost a tooth, but kept it for the tooth fairy.
      • He lost his spleen in a car wreck.
    2. (transitive) To shed (weight).
      • I’ve lost five pounds this week.
    3. (transitive) To experience the death of (someone to whom one has an attachment, such as a relative or friend).
      • She lost all her sons in the war.
      • I hold it true, whate’er befall;
        ⁠I feel it, when I sorrow most;
        ⁠’Tis better to have loved and lost
        Than never to have loved at all.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXVII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 44
    4. (transitive) To pay or owe (some wager) due from an unsuccessful bet or gamble.
      • Frank had lost $500 staying in Vegas.
    5. (transitive) To be deprived of (some right or privileged access to something).
      • Users who engage in disruptive behavior may lose their accounts.
  2. (transitive) To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; to go astray from.
    • I lost my way in the forest.
    • He hath lost his fellows.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
  3. (transitive) To become a defeated competitor in (a game, competition, trial, etc).
    • We lost the football match.
    • You just lost The Game.
  4. (intransitive) To be defeated (in a game, competition, contest, etc.)
    • The team scored four goals but still managed to lose.
  5. (transitive) To be unable to follow or trace (somebody or something) any longer.
    • The policeman lost the robber he was chasing.
    • Mission control lost the satellite as its signal died down.
  6. (transitive) To cause (somebody) to be unable to follow or trace one any longer.
    • lose the cops
    • We managed to lose our pursuers in the forest.
  7. (transitive) To cease exhibiting; to overcome (a behavior or emotion).
    • I can see Mickie getting hot, I'm about to grab his arm, hold him back, say, Whoa, whoa, Mick, not here, it ain't worth it what happened inside just now. But I don't need to because Mickie loses his anger, starts smiling at ponytail, then melodramatically starts looking around at the men and women...2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 134
    • Her attitude was so bad my mother wound up telling her, “You know we really don't have to be standing here talking to you, so you can lose the attitude or you can leave.2012, Tracy Brooks, Dancing in the Rain, →ISBN, page 349
  8. (informal, transitive) To shed, remove, discard, or eliminate.
    • When we get into the building, please lose the hat.
    • Lose that extra space on the left.
  9. (transitive) Of a clock, to run slower than expected.
    • My watch loses five minutes a week.
    • It's already 5:30? My watch must have lost a few minutes.
  10. (ditransitive) To cause (someone) the loss of something; to deprive of.
    • O false heart! thou hadst almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and lost me this glory.1650, Richard Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest
    • a. 1699, Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet, On the Excesses of Grief
      How should you go about to lose him a wife he loves with so much passion?
  11. (transitive) To fail to catch with the mind or senses; to miss.
    • She moved out of hearing and I lost the end of the sentence.

Proper noun capitalized: Lose

Lose (plural Loses)

  1. A surname from German.

Also used as

lose is also the alternative form of loos.

lose meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

lose in Hindi

cease to have in one's possession or capability
खोना khonā
(transitive) be a defeated competitor in
खोना khonā, हारना hārnā

lose in Tamil

cease to have in one's possession or capability
தொலை tolai, இழ iḻa
shed (weight)
குறை kuṟai
experience the death of (someone to whom one has an attachment, such as a relative or friend)
இழ iḻa
(transitive) be a defeated competitor in
தோல் tōl

lose in Marathi

हरणे, गमावण्याचा

lose in Urdu

cease to have in one's possession or capability
کھونا khonā
(transitive) be a defeated competitor in
کھونا khonā
More languagesFewer languages
lose in Bengali
হারানো haranō, হারিয়ে ফেলা hariẏe phela, হারা hara, হেরে যাওয়া here jaōẇa
lose in Telugu
కోల్పోవు kōlpōvu, ఓడిపోవు ōḍipōvu
lose in Malayalam
തോൽക്കാൻ, നഷ്ടപ്പെടാൻ
lose in Punjabi
ਹਾਰਨ ਲਈ
lose in Odia
ହାରିବାକୁ
lose in Assamese
হেৰোৱা herüa, হাৰা hara, হৰা hora
lose in Nepali
गुमाउनु gumāunu, हार्नु hārnu
lose in Tagalog
mamatayan
lose in Arabic
خَسِرَ ḵasira, فَقَدَ faqada
lose in Malay
hilang
lose in Indonesian
hilang, kalah
lose in Persian
گم کردن gom kardan, از دست دادن az dast dâdan, باختن bâxtan, زدودن zodudan
lose in Thai
เสีย sǐia, ลด lót, แพ้ pɛ́ɛ, พ่าย pâai
lose in Vietnamese
mất, băng hà, thua
lose in Myanmar
ပျောက် pyauk, ပျက် pyak, ပြုတ် prut, ရှုံး hrum:
Kashmiri
راوُن rāvun, ہارُن hārun

Examples of lose in a sentence

  • But I don't need to because Mickie loses his anger, starts smiling at ponytail, then melodramatically starts looking around at the men and women on the street going in and out of the courthouse.2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 134:
  • You can bet that the next woman who "loses" the top half of her bikini at the beach was born under the sign of Libra.1976, Martine, Sexual Astrology:
  • That person could lose you your job, get you evicted, or have you generally hounded out of town.1986, Samuel R. Delany, Joseph Beam, “The Possibility of Possibilities”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page...

All 40 example sentences with lose

Synonyms of lose

Antonyms

4 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of lose

Forms of lose

Verb
third-person singular presentloses
present participlelosing
past participlelost
pastlost
second-person singular present (archaic)losest
second-person singular past (archaic)lostest
third-person singular present (archaic)loseth
Proper noun
pluralLoses

Past tense of lose: lost

Origin of lose

From Middle English losen, from Old English losian. The modern pronunciation with /uː/ (instead of the /oʊ~əʊ/ that would be expected from Early Modern /ɔː/) is due to conflation with loose.

* As a north/Low German surname, from a pet form of Lodewig, Ludwig. * As a south German surname, from a pet from of Nikolaus.

Words formed from lose

Phrases with lose

20 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with lose

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lose

What does lose mean?
Lose means to cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
What is lose in Hindi?
Lose in Hindi is खोना (khonā), हारना (hārnā). See Lose meaning in Hindi.
How do you use lose in a sentence?
But I don't need to because Mickie loses his anger, starts smiling at ponytail, then melodramatically starts looking around at the men and women on the street going in and out of the courthouse.
What part of speech is lose?
Lose can be a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lose?
Lose is pronounced /luːz/ (UK).
What is the past tense of lose?
The past tense of lose is lost.

Words near lose in the dictionary

  1. Losches
  2. Loschiavo
  3. Loschiavos
  4. Loschmidt's paradox
  5. Loscoe
  6. lose
  7. lose caste
  8. lose control
  9. lose count
  10. lose face
  11. lose ground

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lose (page history and authors); Lose (page history and authors); lose (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lose (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lose (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lose (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-uk-to lose.ogg, en-us-lose.ogg.

Cite this entry: “lose.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lose. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.