[
US
/ˈɫus/
]
[ UK /lˈuːs/ ]
[ UK /lˈuːs/ ]
VERB
- grant freedom to; free from confinement
-
make loose or looser
loosen the tension on a rope -
turn loose or free from restraint
let loose mines
Loose terrible plagues upon humanity -
become loose or looser or less tight
The noose loosened
the rope relaxed
ADJECTIVE
-
(of textures) full of small openings or gaps
a loose weave
an open texture -
(of a ball in sport) not in the possession or control of any player
a loose ball -
not carefully arranged in a package
a box of loose nails -
not tight; not closely constrained or constricted or constricting
loose clothing
the large shoes were very loose -
not literal
a loose interpretation of what she had been told
a free translation of the poem -
not affixed
the stamp came loose -
casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior
he was told to avoid loose (or light) women
her easy virtue
wanton behavior -
not tense or taut
the old man's skin hung loose and grey
a slack grip
slack and wrinkled skin
slack sails
a slack rope -
lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility
idle talk
a loose tongue -
emptying easily or excessively
loose bowels -
having escaped, especially from confinement
searching for two escaped prisoners
criminals on the loose in the neighborhood
a convict still at large
dogs loose on the streets -
not compact or dense in structure or arrangement
loose gravel -
not officially recognized or controlled
an informal agreement
a loose organization of the local farmers
ADVERB
-
without restraint
cows in India are running loose
How To Use loose In A Sentence
- Gone was the prim nodus; instead her long hair was parted in the center and allowed to fall loose under a veil, in a deliberate echo of the statuary poses of classical goddesses. Caesars’ Wives
- She was in her sixties and wore her thinning gray hair pulled back in a loose bun with all but a few strands secured by bobby pins.
- They establish a colony on Ragol but this perfect planet soon unleashes a few surprises and all hell breaks loose.
- The ordinary piki is shaped into loose rolls about 10 inches long and two inches in diameter, but the wedding piki is folded into flat pieces about 8 inches square.
- In more traditional settings, people wear boubous, loose-fitting cotton tunics with large openings under the arms.
- There are three degrees of intimacy between words, of which the first and loosest is expressed by their mere juxtaposition as separate words, the second by their being hyphened, and the third or closest by their being written continuously as one word. Hyphens.
- Better to wait until bubbles burst and manage the consequences, softening the economic blow by loosening monetary policy very quickly.
- Around the humerus, loose where once it had clung tightly, lay the twisted semi-circle of a priestly arm-ring. MIDNIGHT IS A LONELY PLACE
- The government also has a fairly loose definition of what constitutes a first-time homebuyer, which is defined as someone who has no "present interest" in a main home during a two-year period prior to the date of acquisition of the new home. Five Penalty-Free IRA Withdrawals
- I put the parchment down on the board, loosely, without fastening it. THE CALLIGRAPHER