LOOSE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Loose

/lus/ Listen

Loose

adjective

(compar. looser; superl. loosest)

1.

Not compact or dense in structure or arrangement.

2.

(of a ball in sport) not in the possession or control of any player.

3.

Not tight; not closely constrained or constricted or constricting. "The large shoes were very loose"

4.

Not officially recognized or controlled. Synonym: informal. "A loose organization of the local farmers"

5.

Not literal. Synonyms: free, liberal. "A free translation of the poem"

6.

Emptying easily or excessively. Synonym: lax.

7.

Not affixed. Synonym: unaffixed.

8.

Not tense or taut. Synonym: slack. "Slack and wrinkled skin" , "Slack sails" , "A slack rope"

9.

(of textures) full of small openings or gaps. Synonym: open. "A loose weave"

10.

Lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility. Synonym: idle. "A loose tongue"

11.

Not carefully arranged in a package.

12.

Having escaped, especially from confinement. Synonyms: at large, escaped, on the loose. "Searching for two escaped prisoners" , "Dogs loose on the streets" , "Criminals on the loose in the neighborhood"

13.

Casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior. Synonyms: easy, light, promiscuous, sluttish, wanton. "He was told to avoid loose (or light) women" , "Wanton behavior"

verb

(past & past part. loosed; pres. part. loosing)

1.

Grant freedom to; free from confinement. Synonyms: free, liberate, release, unloose, unloosen.

2.

Turn loose or free from restraint. Synonyms: let loose, unleash. "Loose terrible plagues upon humanity"

3.

Make loose or looser. Synonym: loosen.

4.

Become loose or looser or less tight. Synonyms: loosen, relax. "The rope relaxed"

adverb

1.

Without restraint. Synonym: free.

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Antonyms of 'Loose'

Etymology of 'Loose'

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loose-leaf lettuce

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Loose" Quotes from Famous Books

... sight, the gleam of that lake by Capernaum and Chorazin, and many a place loved by Him, and vainly ministered to, whose house was now left unto them desolate; and, chief of all, far in the utmost blue, the hills above Nazareth, sloping down to His old home: hills on which yet the stones lay loose, that had been taken up to cast at Him, when He left them ...

— Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) • John Ruskin

... but I shouldn't wonder if that was his hot head and bull temper as much as anything else. As to whether he's anything more than foolish or not, course I couldn't say sartin, but I don't think he's too desperate to be runnin' loose. I cal'late he won't put any bombs underneath the town hall or anything of that sort. Phin and his kind remind me some of that new kind of balloon you was tellin' me they'd probably have over to your camp when 'twas done, that—er—er—dirigible; ...

— Shavings • Joseph C. Lincoln

... clearly disregarded him. Raymond of Toulouse himself saved those in the Tower of David, and managed to send them safely with their property to Ascalon. But revolution with all its evil as well as its good was loose and raging in the streets of the Holy City. And in nothing do we see that spirit of revolution more clearly than in the sight of all those peasants and serfs and vassals, in that one wild moment in revolt, not only against the conquered lords of ...

— The New Jerusalem • G. K. Chesterton

... work. The dust, the odor of burning flesh, the heat of the corral fire for heating the irons, the bellowing of frightened mother cows, and the bleating of the calves, the struggles with the victims, these try men's strength and tempers severely. Once branded, the calf is turned loose and not touched again until it is four years old and ready for the market. Stray unbranded cattle over a year old are known as "mavericks," and become the property ...

— The Round-up - A Romance of Arizona novelized from Edmund Day's melodrama • John Murray and Marion Mills Miller

... impulse is invoked, or vaguely the inability of primitive groups to adapt themselves to conditions, or to gain access to the necessities of life. Le Bon (42) speaks of the hunger and the desire that led Germanic forces as ancient hordes to turn themselves loose upon the world. ...

— The Psychology of Nations - A Contribution to the Philosophy of History • G.E. Partridge

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