Adjective: loose
Comparison Forms
Synthetic
| Comparative | looser |
| Superlative | loosest |
Perifrastic
Sample Sentences
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This wheelbarrow has a loose wheel.
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You can buy apples in a pack, but they are cheaper loose.
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The dog is loose again.
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The very idea of a machine set loose to slaughter is chilling. [2020 October 15, Frank Pasquale, “‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI”, in The Guardian:]
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Now I stand / Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts? [1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 59:]
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I wear loose clothes when it is hot.
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It is difficult walking on loose gravel.
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a cloth of loose texture
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with horse and chariots ranked in loose array [1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:]
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She danced with a loose flowing movement.
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a loose way of reasoning
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The comparison employed […] must be considered rather as a loose analogy than as an exact scientific explanation. [1858, William Whewell, The history of scientific ideas:]
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Loose talk costs lives.
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In all these he was much and deeply read; / But not a page of any thing that's loose, / Or hints continuation of the species, / Was ever suffer'd, lest he should grow vicious. [1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, section I:]
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to seeke her errant Knight; / And then againe resolu'd to hunt him out / Amongst loose Ladies, lapped in delight [1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5:]
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the loose morality which he had learned [1826, [Walter Scott], Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC:]
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He caught an elbow going after a loose ball.
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The puck was momentarily loose right in front of the net.
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Tomas Rosicky released the left-back with a fine pass but his low cross was cut out by Ivan Marcano. However the Brazilian was able to collect the loose ball, cut inside and roll a right-footed effort past Franco Costanzo at his near post. [2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport:]
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People that are very loose, have seldom strong Thoughts, or strong Bodies [1693, [John Locke], “(please specify the section number)”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:]
Adjectives inflected like loose
scarce,
smoove,
sombre,
wholsome,
sheene,
bolshie,
baroque,
concrete,
seveare,
comf'table,
shrewde,
'umble,
grislie,
unsubtle,
ungentle,
indiscrete,
couthie,
chavvie,
lissome,
cutesie, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)
Etymology
1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁-
3. Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der.
4. Proto-Germanic *leusaną
5. Proto-Germanic *lausaz
6. Old Norse laussbor.
7. Middle English loos
8. English loose
9. From Middle English loos, los, lous, from Old Norse lauss, from Proto-Germanic *lausaz, whence also -less, leasing; from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- (“to untie, set free, separate”), whence also lyo-, -lysis, via Ancient Greek.
Verbs referencing "loose"
German Adjectives
lose, Dutch Adjectives
los.