unloose
Syllables: un·loose/(ˌ)ʌnˈluːs/US/ˌʌnˈlus/
unloose verb: to loosen or undo (something that entangles, fastens, holds, or interlocks).
Verb
unloose (third-person singular simple present unlooses, present participle unloosing, simple past and past participle unloosed)
- To loosen or undo (something that entangles, fastens, holds, or interlocks).
- Turne him to any Cauſe of Pollicy, / The Gordian Knot of it he will vnlooſe, / Familiar as his Garter: […]1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- [S]uch ſmiling rogues as theſe, / Like Rats oft bite the holy cords a twaine, / Which are t' intrince, t' vnlooſe: […]c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- To relax or slacken (something that clasps or grips, such as the arms or hands).
- To free (someone or something) from a constraint; (figuratively) to release (something which has been suppressed, such as emotions or objectionable things).
- Then Yorke vnlooſe thy long impriſoned thoughts, / And let thy tongue be equall with thy heart.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Thus did the melancholy Tale conclude, / And a ſhort, ſilent Interval ensu'd. / The next in Birth unlooſ'd her artful Tongue, / And drew attentive all the Siſter-Throng.1717, Laurence Eusden, “Book IV. [The Story of Pyramus and Thisbe.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 109
- To remove or take off (especially something undesirable).
- Synonyms:
- detach
- To become loose or come off.
- Synonyms:
- detach
- To free from a constraint.
unloose meaning in Kannada
unloose in Kannada
- ಇಡುಕು
Examples of unloose in a sentence
- Death opens the gate of fame, and ſhuts the gate of envy after it,—it unlooſes the chain of the captive, and puts the bondſman’s taſk into another man's hands.1762, [Laurence Sterne], chapter III, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume V, London: […] T. Becket and P. A....
- I abide not the imposition of hands—take off your grasp from my cloak, or I will find means to make you unloose it.1822, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst...
- Forgetting his disgust, Brice tore away the shirt and unloosed the belt.1900, Bret Harte, “A Niece of Snapshot Harry’s. Chapter II.”, in From Sand Hill to Pine, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin...
Synonyms of unloose
Forms of unloose
| third-person singular present | unlooses |
|---|---|
| present participle | unloosing |
| past participle | unloosed |
| past | unloosed |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | unloosest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | unloosedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | unlooseth |
Origin of unloose
From Middle English unlosen (“to loosen, untie; to uncover, unwrap; to extend; to free, liberate, release; to disengage; to detach oneself; to make (someone) weak; to abolish; to destroy”) [and other forms], from un- (intensifying prefix) + losen (“to free, let loose, release; to loosen, untie; to come undone or unfastened; to open; to relax; to remove; to melt; to resolve; to break up, disintegrate; to detach, disengage; to destroy; to say, tell; to absolve of sin”) (from los (“free; loose, untied; exempt; absolved of sin; inattentive, undisciplined; of the tongue: lacking restraint, unbridled; limp, weak; wavering”), from Old Norse lauss (“loose”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewH- (“to separate; to set free; to untie”)). The English word is analysable as un- (intensifying prefix) + loose. Compare Middle English unlesen (“to loosen, release”), from Old English onlīesan (“to release, deliver, liberate, unloose”).
Words formed from unloose
Words that rhyme with unloose
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- deduce
- sluice
- educe
- effuse
- introduce
- mousse
- produce
- recluse
- reproduce
- Rus
- seduce
- spruce
- excuse
- moose
- traduce
- transduce
- vamoose
- Zeus
- abduce
- abstruse
- adduce
- cruse
- diffuse
- disuse
- doos
- douce
- overproduce
- papoose
- reuse
- truce
- unsluice
- Al-Andalus
- ashy-headed goose
- boose
- burnoose
- caduce
- ceruse
- charlotte russe
- Emden goose
- fog juice
- hoose
- ill-use
- incuse
- luce
- misuse
- noose
- obstruse
- overuse
Questions about unloose
- What does unloose mean?
- Unloose means to loosen or undo (something that entangles, fastens, holds, or interlocks).
- What is unloose in Kannada?
- Unloose in Kannada is ಇಡುಕು. See Unloose meaning in Kannada.
- How do you use unloose in a sentence?
- Death opens the gate of fame, and ſhuts the gate of envy after it,—it unlooſes the chain of the captive, and puts the bondſman’s taſk into another man's hands.
- What part of speech is unloose?
- Unloose is a verb.
- How do you pronounce unloose?
- Unloose is pronounced /(ˌ)ʌnˈluːs/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of unloose?
- The past tense of unloose is unloosed.
Words near unloose in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unloose (page history and authors); unloose (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-unloose.wav.
Cite this entry: “unloose.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unloose. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.