(loses, losing, lost)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
If you lose a contest, a fight, or an argument, you do not succeed because someone does better than you and defeats you.
A C Milan lost the Italian Cup Final...
The government lost the argument over the pace of reform...
No one likes to be on the losing side.
VERB: V n, V n, V-ing
2.
If you lose something, you do not know where it is, for example because you have forgotten where you put it.
I lost my keys...
I had to go back for my checkup; they'd lost my X-rays.
VERB: V n, V n
3.
You say that you lose something when you no longer have it because it has been taken away from you or destroyed.
I lost my job when the company moved to another state...
She was terrified they'd lose their home.
VERB: V n, V n
4.
If someone loses a quality, characteristic, attitude, or belief, they no longer have it.
He lost all sense of reason...
He had lost his desire to live.
VERB: V n, V n
5.
If you lose an ability, you stop having that ability because of something such as an accident.
They lost their ability to hear...
He had lost the use of his legs.
VERB: V n, V n
6.
If someone or something loses heat, their temperature becomes lower.
Babies lose heat much faster than adults...
VERB: V n
7.
If you lose blood or fluid from your body, it leaves your body so that you have less of it.
During fever a large quantity of fluid is lost in perspiration.
VERB: V n
8.
If you lose weight, you become less heavy, and usually look thinner.
I have lost a lot of weight...
Martha was able to lose 25 pounds.
VERB: V n, V n
9.
If you lose a part of your body, it is cut off in an operation or in an accident.
He lost a foot when he was struck by a train.
VERB: V n
10.
If someone loses their life, they die.
...the ferry disaster in 1987, in which 192 people lost their lives...
Hundreds of lives were lost in fighting.
VERB: V n, V n
11.
If you lose a close relative or friend, they die.
My Grandma lost her brother in the war.
VERB: V n
12.
If things are lost, they are destroyed in a disaster.
...the famous Nankin pottery that was lost in a shipwreck off the coast of China.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed
13.
If you lose time, something slows you down so that you do not make as much progress as you hoped.
They claim that police lost valuable time in the early part of the investigation...
Six hours were lost in all.
VERB: V n, V n
14.
If you lose an opportunity, you do not take advantage of it.
If you don't do it soon you're going to lose the opportunity...
They did not lose the opportunity to say what they thought of events.
...a lost opportunity.
VERB: V n, V n to-inf, V-ed
15.
If you lose yourself in something or if you are lost in it, you give a lot of attention to it and do not think about anything else.
Michael held on to her arm, losing himself in the music...
He was lost in the contemplation of the landscape.
= absorb
VERB: V pron-refl in n, be V-ed in n
16.
If a business loses money, it earns less money than it spends, and is therefore in debt. (BUSINESS)
His shops stand to lose millions of pounds...
VERB: V n
17.
If something loses you a contest or loses you something that you had, it causes you to fail or to no longer have what you had.
My own stupidity lost me the match...
His economic mismanagement has lost him the support of the general public.
VERB: V n n, V n n
18.
19.
If someone loses it, they become extremely angry or upset. (INFORMAL)
I completely lost it. I went mad, berserk.
PHRASE: V inflects
20.
If you lose your way, you become lost when you are trying to go somewhere.
The men lost their way in a sandstorm.
PHRASE: V inflects
21.
to
lose the battle but win the war: see
battle
to
lose your
cool: see
cool
to
lose your
grip: see
grip
to
lose your
head: see
head
to
lose your
mind: see
mind
to
lose your
nerve: see
nerve
to
lose the plot: see
plot
to
lose sight of: see
sight
to
lose your
temper: see
temper
to
lose track of: see
track