LOOSE


Meaning of LOOSE in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ lu:s ]

( looser, loosest, looses, loosing, loosed)

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.

1.

Something that is loose is not firmly held or fixed in place.

If a tooth feels very loose, your dentist may recommend that it’s taken out...

Two wooden beams had come loose from the ceiling...

She idly pulled at a loose thread on her skirt.

ADJ

• loose‧ly

Tim clasped his hands together and held them loosely in front of his belly.

ADV : ADV with v

2.

Something that is loose is not attached to anything, or held or contained in anything.

Frank emptied a handful of loose change on the table...

A page came loose and floated onto the tiles.

ADJ : usu ADJ n

3.

If people or animals break loose or are set loose , they are no longer held, tied, or kept somewhere and can move around freely.

She broke loose from his embrace and crossed to the window...

Why didn’t you tell me she’d been set loose?...

= free

ADJ : ADJ after v , ADJ n , v-link ADJ

4.

Clothes that are loose are rather large and do not fit closely.

Wear loose clothes as they’re more comfortable.

= baggy

≠ tight

ADJ

• loose‧ly

His shirt hung loosely over his thin shoulders.

ADV : ADV after v , ADV -ed

5.

If your hair is loose , it hangs freely round your shoulders and is not tied back.

She was still in her nightdress, with her hair hanging loose over her shoulders.

ADJ

6.

If something is loose in texture, there is space between the different particles or threads it consists of.

She gathered loose soil and let it filter slowly through her fingers.

ADJ

7.

A loose grouping, arrangement, or organization is flexible rather than strictly controlled or organized.

Murray and Alison came to some sort of loose arrangement before he went home...

He wants a loose coalition of leftwing forces.

ADJ : usu ADJ n

• loose‧ly

The investigation had aimed at a loosely organised group of criminals.

ADV : ADV with v

8.

If a person or an animal is on the loose , they are free because they have escaped from a person or place.

Up to a thousand prisoners may be on the loose inside the jail...

PHRASE : v-link PHR

9.

a loose cannon: see cannon

all hell breaks loose: see hell

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Английский словарь Коллинз COBUILD для изучающих язык на продвинутом уровне.