loss
UK/lɒs/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/lɔs/
loss noun: the result of no longer possessing an object, a function, or a characteristic due to external causes or misplacement. Also the alternative spelling of lost.
Noun
loss (countable and uncountable, plural losses)
- The result of no longer possessing an object, a function, or a characteristic due to external causes or misplacement.
- loss of limb; weight loss; loss of cognitive functions; loss of appetite.
- People are less willing to take a risk to make a gain than to avoid a loss.
- The destruction or ruin of an object.
- Something that has been destroyed or ruined.
- It was a terrible crash; both cars were total losses.
- Defeat; an instance of being defeated.
- The match ended in their first loss of the season.
- The death of a person or animal.
- We mourn his loss.
- The battle was won, but losses were great.
- The condition of grief caused by losing someone or something, especially someone who has died.
- Her daughter's sense of loss eventually led to depression.
- The sum an entity loses on balance.
- The sum of expenditures and taxes minus total income is a loss, when this difference is positive.
- Antonyms:
- profit
- Electricity of kinetic power expended without doing useful work.
- The inefficiency of many old-fashioned power plants exceeds 60% loss before the subsequent losses during transport over the grid.
Also used as
loss is also the alternative spelling of lost.
loss meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
loss in Hindi
- the result of no longer possessing something
- हानि hāni
- destruction or ruin of an object
- क्षति kṣati
- defeat — see also defeat
- हार hār, पराजय parājay
- the death of a person or animal
- हानि hāni, क्षति kṣati
loss in Tamil
- the result of no longer possessing something
- இழப்பு iḻappu
- destruction or ruin of an object
- சேதம் cētam
- the death of a person or animal
- இழவு iḻavu, இழப்பு iḻappu
- financial: the sum lost on balance
- இழப்பு iḻappu
loss in Marathi
- तोटा
loss in Urdu
- نقصان
More languagesFewer languages
- loss in Telugu
- పరాజయం parājayaṁ
- loss in Malayalam
- നഷ്ടം naṣṭaṁ, വിയോഗം viyōgaṁ
- loss in Kannada
- ನಷ್ಟ
- loss in Arabic
- خَسَارَة ḵasāra, فِقْدَان fiqdān, ضَرَر ḍarar
- loss in Persian
- خسارت xesârat, ضرر zarar
- loss in Vietnamese
- sự mất
Examples of loss in a sentence
- Not a week goes by when I don't mourn that loss.
- He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.
- People are more willing to take a risk to avoid a loss than to make a gain.
Synonyms of loss
Antonyms
Forms of loss
| plural | losses |
|---|
Origin of loss
From Middle English los, from Old English los (“damage, destruction, loss”), from Proto-West Germanic *los, from Proto-Germanic *lusą (“dissolution, break-up, loss”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut, sunder, separate, loose, lose”). Cognate with Icelandic los (“dissolution, looseness, break-up”), Old English lor, forlor (“loss, ruin”), Middle High German verlor (“loss, ruin”). More at lose.
Pronunciation spelling of lost, representing African-American Vernacular English.
Words formed from loss
- at a loss
- at a loss for words
- blood loss
- bloodloss
- bone loss
- capital loss
- core loss
- dead loss
- deadweight loss
- drip loss
- ego loss
- for a loss
- for the loss
- generation loss
- habitat loss
- hair loss
- head loss
- headloss
- hearing loss
- hull loss
- instant loss
- instant loss 2koma
- lossage
- loss and damage
- loss and gain are brothers twain
- loss condition
- lossful
- loss function
- loss leader
- lossless
- lossmaker
- loss-maker
- loss-making
- loss of consortium
- loss of face
- loss of life
- loss of supply
- loss prevention
- lossproof
- loss ratio
- lossy
- net loss
- net operating loss
- one man's loss is another man's gain
- operating loss
- packet loss
- path loss
- pregnancy loss
- profit and loss
- profit and loss statement
- sightloss
- stop-loss
- stop loss
- stop-loss order
- stop loss order
- tackle for loss
- total loss
- vision loss
- wake loss
- weight loss
Phrases with loss
Words that rhyme with loss
Questions about loss
- What does loss mean?
- Loss means the result of no longer possessing an object, a function, or a characteristic due to external causes or misplacement.
- What is loss in Hindi?
- Loss in Hindi is हानि (hāni), क्षति (kṣati), हार (hār). See Loss meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is loss?
- Loss is a noun.
- How do you pronounce loss?
- Loss is pronounced /lɒs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of loss?
- The plural of loss is losses.
Words near loss in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: loss (page history and authors); loss (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); loss (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); loss (Kannada, 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-us-loss.ogg.
Cite this entry: “loss.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/loss. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.