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lose - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'lose' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Lose [ v. i.]
- To suffer loss, disadvantage, or defeat; to be worse off, esp. as the result of any kind of contest.
2 . Lose [ v. t.]
- To part with unintentionally or unwillingly, as by accident, misfortune, negligence, penalty, forfeit, etc.; to be deprived of; as, to lose money from one's purse or pocket, or in business or gaming; to lose an arm or a leg by amputation; to lose men in battle.
- To cease to have; to possess no longer; to suffer diminution of; as, to lose one's relish for anything; to lose one's health.
- Not to employ; to employ ineffectually; to throw away; to waste; to squander; as, to lose a day; to lose the benefits of instruction.
- To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to and; to go astray from; as, to lose one's way.
- To ruin; to destroy; as destroy; as, the ship was lost on the ledge.
- To be deprived of the view of; to cease to see or know the whereabouts of; as, he lost his companion in the crowd.
- To fail to obtain or enjoy; to fail to gain or win; hence, to fail to catch with the mind or senses; to miss; as, I lost a part of what he said.
- To cause to part with; to deprive of.
- To prevent from gaining or obtaining.

Meaning of 'lose' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . lose [ v]
Meaning (1):
- withdraw, as from reality
Example in sentence:
  • he lost himslef in his music
Meaning (2):
- fail to get or obtain
Example in sentence:
  • I lost the opportunity to spend a year abroad
Meaning (3):
- fail to make money in a business; make a loss or fail to profit
Example in sentence:
  • I lost thousands of dollars on that bad investment!;
  • The company turned a loss after the first year
Meaning (4):
- fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind
Example in sentence:
  • I missed that remark;
  • She missed his point;
  • We lost part of what he said
Meaning (5):
- miss from one's possessions; lose sight of
Example in sentence:
  • I've lost my glasses again!
Meaning (6):
- allow to go out of sight or mind
Example in sentence:
  • lose the crowds by climbing a mountain;
  • The detective lost the man he was shadowing after he had to stop at a red light;
  • the lost tribe
Meaning (7):
- suffer the loss of a person through death or removal
Example in sentence:
  • She lost her husband in the war;
  • The couple that wanted to adopt the child lost her when the biological parents claimed her
Meaning (8):
- fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
Example in sentence:
  • She lost her purse when she left it unattended on her seat
Meaning (9):
- be set at a disadvantage
Example in sentence:
  • The painting loses something in this light;
  • This author really suffers in translation
Meaning (10):
- fail to win
Example in sentence:
  • We lost the battle but we won the war

Nearby Words:

los losable losange losel losenger losengerie loser losing losingly loss

See 'lose' also in:

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