English
lose
Pronunciation Verb

lose (loses, present participle losing; past and past participle lost)

  1. (transitive) To cause (something) to cease to be in one's possession or capability due to unfortunate or unknown circumstances, events or reasons.
    If you lose that ten-pound note, you'll be sorry.
    He lost his hearing in the explosion.
    She lost her position when the company was taken over.
    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.
  2. To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; to go astray from.
    I lost my way in the forest.
    • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      He hath lost his fellows.
  3. (transitive) To fail to win (a game, competition, trial, etc).
    We lost the football match.
    • I fought the battle bravely which I lost, / And lost it but to Macedonians.
  4. (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.
  5. (transitive) To cause (somebody) to be unable to follow or trace one any longer.
    We managed to lose our pursuers in the forest.
  6. (transitive) To cease exhibiting; to overcome (a behavior or emotion).
  7. (transitive, informal) To shed, remove, discard, or eliminate.
    When we get into the building, please lose the hat.
  8. 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.
  9. (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.
    • 2002, Colin Jones (historian), The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, page 556:
      This lost Catholicism […] any semblance of a claim to special status, and also highlighted the gains which other religious formations had derived from the Revolution.
  10. To fail to catch with the mind or senses; to miss.
    I lost a part of what he said.
  11. (transitive, archaic) To cause to part with; to deprive of.
    • How should you go about to lose him a wife he loves with so much passion?
Conjugation


conjugation of lose

infinitive lose
present participle losing
past participle lost
simple progressive perfect perfect progressive
present I lose we lose I am losing we are losing I have lost we have lost I have been losing we have been losing
you lose you lose you are losing you are losing you have lost you have lost you have been losing you have been losing
he loses they lose he is losing they are losing he has lost they have lost he has been losing they have been losing
past I lost we lost I was losing we were losing I had lost we had lost I had been losing we had been losing
you lost you lost you were losing you were losing you had lost you had lost you had been losing you had been losing
he lost they lost he was losing they were losing he had lost they had lost he had been losing they had been losing
future I will lose we will lose I will be losing we will be losing I will have lost we will have lost I will have been losing we will have been losing
you will lose you will lose you will be losing you will be losing you will have lost you will have lost you will have been losing you will have been losing
he will lose they will lose he will be losing they will be losing he will have lost they will have lost he will have been losing they will have been losing
conditional I would lose we would lose I would be losing we would be losing I would have lost we would have lost I would have been losing we would have been losing
you would lose you would lose you would be losing you would be losing you would have lost you would have lost you would have been losing you would have been losing
he would lose they would lose he would be losing they would be losing he would have lost they would have lost he would have been losing they would have been losing
imperative lose

Synonyms
  • (cause to cease to be in one's possession) leave behind, mislay
  • (fail to win (something) forfeit
  • (shed (weight) drop, shed
  • (have (somebody of one's kin) die)
  • (be unable to follow or trace (somebody or something) any longer)
  • (shed, remove, discard, eliminate) ditch, drop, dump, get rid of, jettison
  • (fail to win (intransitive)
  • (last)
Antonyms Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

lose

  1. (obsolete) Fame, renown; praise.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.12:
      That much he feared least reprochfull blame / With foule dishonour him mote blot therefore; / Besides the losse of so much loos and fame […].


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