lose
verb /luːz/
/luːz/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they lose | /luːz/ /luːz/ |
| he / she / it loses | /ˈluːzɪz/ /ˈluːzɪz/ |
| past simple lost | /lɒst/ /lɔːst/ |
| past participle lost | /lɒst/ /lɔːst/ |
| -ing form losing | /ˈluːzɪŋ/ /ˈluːzɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] lose something/somebody to be unable to find something/somebody synonym mislay
- I've lost my keys.
- The tickets seem to have got lost.
- She lost her husband in the crowd.
Extra Examples- We've lost Alfie—is he with you?
- Here, tie it round your neck so you don't lose it.
- If your card is lost or stolen, inform your bank immediately.
- [transitive] lose something/somebody to have something/somebody taken away from you, especially as a result of an accident, dying, etc.
- She lost a leg in a car crash.
- Some families lost everything (= all they owned) in the flood.
- She lost her baby (= had a miscarriage) three months into the pregnancy.
- They lost both their sons (= they were killed) in the war.
- The ship was lost at sea (= it sank).
- Many people lost their lives (= were killed).
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- forever
- be about to
- be going to
- be likely to
- …
- [transitive] lose something/somebody to have to give up something; to fail to keep something/somebody
- He's lost his job.
- You will lose your deposit if you cancel the order.
- Sit down or you'll lose your seat.
- The government has lost control of the city.
- We cannot afford to lose any more senior members of staff.
- The average business loses 20 per cent of its customers every year.
- You risk losing your house if you do not keep up the payments.
- lose something to somebody/something The company has lost a lot of business to its competitors.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- forever
- be about to
- be going to
- be likely to
- …
- [transitive] lose something to no longer have something, or have less of something than you had before, especially as a result of getting older
- to lose your hair/teeth
- to lose your sight/eyesight/hearing/memory
- There's new hope for people trying to lose weight.
- I've lost ten pounds since I started this diet.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- forever
- be about to
- be going to
- be likely to
- …
- [transitive] lose something to have less and less of a quality or ability, especially until you no longer have any of it
- She seemed to have lost interest in food.
- to lose faith/confidence
- He lost his nerve at the last minute.
- At that moment he lost his balance and fell.
- The train was losing speed.
- He never lost the ability to make people laugh.
- [transitive, intransitive] to be defeated; to fail to win a competition, a court case, an argument, etc.; to cause somebody to be defeated
- lose something So far they haven't lost a game.
- to lose a race/an election/a battle/a war
- lose to somebody We lost to a stronger team.
- lose by something He lost by less than 100 votes.
- lose something by something We lost the game by three points.
- lose on something (to somebody) They lost on penalties to (= because they scored fewer penalties than) Spain.
- lose somebody something Many believe the incident lost them the election.
Extra ExamplesTopics Difficulty and failurea1, Games and toysa1- The visiting side lost to the home team.
- There was really no shame in losing to Norton at that stage of his career.
- This is a game that Lazio cannot afford to lose.
- We lost against Albyn College.
- We lost by five goals to two.
- They deserved to lose.
- Win or lose, the important thing is to remain calm.
- The South lost the war.
- He yesterday lost his appeal against a six-month ban.
- She resigned as party leader after they lost the election.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + lose- hate to
- not bear to
- not like to
- …
- against
- by
- to
- …
- win or lose
- [transitive, intransitive] to fail to keep something you want or need, especially money; to cause somebody to fail to keep something
- lose something The business is losing money.
- Poetry always loses something in translation.
- lose something by doing something You have nothing to lose by telling the truth.
- What do we lose by working with them?
- lose on something We lost on that deal.
- The company stands to lose financially if this deal falls through.
- lose somebody something His carelessness lost him the job.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- forever
- be about to
- be going to
- be likely to
- …
- [transitive] lose something to fail to get, hear or understand something
- His words were lost (= could not be heard) in the applause.
- [transitive] lose somebody (informal) to be no longer understood by somebody
- I'm afraid you've lost me there.
- [transitive] lose somebody/something to escape from somebody/something synonym evade, shake off
- We managed to lose our pursuers in the darkness.
- [transitive] lose something to waste time or an opportunity
- We lost twenty minutes changing a tyre.
- Hurry—there's no time to lose!
- He lost no time in setting out for London.
- [transitive, intransitive] lose (something) if a watch or clock loses or loses time, it goes too slowly or becomes a particular amount of time behind the correct time
- This clock loses two minutes a day.
not find
have something/somebody taken away
have less
not win
not keep
not understand/hear
escape
time
Word OriginOld English losian ‘perish, destroy’, also ‘become unable to find’, from los ‘loss’.
Idioms
lose it Most idioms containing lose are at the entries for the nouns and adjectives in the idioms, for example lose your bearings is at bearing.
- (informal) to be unable to stop yourself from crying, laughing, etc.; to become crazy
- Then she just lost it and started screaming.