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View synonyms for

loss

[ laws, los ]

noun

  1. detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get:

    to bear the loss of a robbery.

    Antonyms:

  2. something that is lost:

    The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.

  3. an amount or number lost:

    The loss of life increased each day.

  4. the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had:

    the loss of old friends.

    Synonyms: ,

  5. death, or the fact of being dead:

    to mourn the loss of a grandparent.

  6. the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc.:

    to discover the loss of a document.

  7. a losing by defeat; failure to win:

    the loss of a bet.

  8. failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.
  9. failure to preserve or maintain:

    loss of engine speed at high altitudes.

  10. destruction or ruin:

    the loss of a ship by fire.

  11. a thing or a number of related things that are lost or destroyed to some extent:

    Most buildings in the burned district were a total loss.

  12. Military.
    1. the losing of soldiers by death, capture, etc.
    2. Often losses. the number of soldiers so lost.
  13. Insurance. occurrence of an event, as death or damage of property, for which the insurer makes indemnity under the terms of a policy.
  14. Electricity. a measure of the power lost in a system, as by conversion to heat, expressed as a relation between power input and power output, as the ratio of or difference between the two quantities.


loss

/ ɒ /

noun

  1. the act or an instance of losing
  2. the disadvantage or deprivation resulting from losing

    a loss of reputation

  3. the person, thing, or amount lost

    a large loss

  4. plural military personnel lost by death or capture
  5. sometimes plural the amount by which the costs of a business transaction or operation exceed its revenue
  6. a measure of the power lost in an electrical system expressed as the ratio of or difference between the input power and the output power
  7. insurance
    1. an occurrence of something that has been insured against, thus giving rise to a claim by a policyholder
    2. the amount of the resulting claim
  8. at a loss
    1. uncertain what to do; bewildered
    2. rendered helpless (for lack of something)

      at a loss for words

    3. at less than the cost of buying, producing, or maintaining (something)

      the business ran at a loss for several years

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Other Word Forms

  • ·Dz noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of loss1

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English los “destruction”; cognate with Old Norse los “looseness, breakup”; lose ( def ), loose ( def ), -less ( def ), lorn ( def )
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Word History and Origins

Origin of loss1

C14: noun probably formed from lost, past participle of losen to perish, from Old English ō to be destroyed, from los destruction
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. at a loss,
    1. at less than cost; at a financial loss.
    2. in a state of bewilderment or uncertainty; puzzled; perplexed:

      We are completely at a loss for an answer to the problem.

More idioms and phrases containing loss

see at a loss ; cut one's losses ; dead loss .
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Officers discovered "a young child with a significant injury to his neck area and... blood loss", DI Butt added.

From

The loss of his arm ended his and his family's expectation that he would be the fifth generation to take over the land.

From

The NHF says one in three providers in England it surveyed say they may have to stop providing services altogether, meaning the loss of 70,000 supported homes across the country.

From

The Georges demanded that Taylor Farms pay their son’s medical bills among other damages, including for “loss of enjoyment of life” and “emotional distress.”

From

A list of loosely defined actions including causing "serious distress, serious annoyance, serious inconvenience or serious loss of amenity" were now potentially serious crimes.

From

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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