loose

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“
A hinge this loose is a DESIGN FLAW, plain and simple.

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Definitions (79)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (23)

  1. adjective Not fastened, restrained, or contained: loose bricks.
  2. adjective Not taut, fixed, or rigid: a loose anchor line; a loose chair leg.
  3. adjective Free from confinement or imprisonment; unfettered: criminals loose in the neighborhood; dogs that are loose on the streets.
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Examples (50)

  • His stance was loose, his expression welcoming, but as we came closer I caught a hint of underlying tension. —  Muller, Marcia - [22] A Walk through the fire.htm
  • Chainer hauled with all his might, but he could not pull the sword loose or Kamahl down Annoyed, he sent another chain coiling around Kamahl's foot. —  SCOTT McGOUGH
  • The people would laugh at me—I felt it; the tears rolled down my cheeks; I tore myself loose, and left the stage full of anguish. —  The True Story of My Life
  • I was saved from this small but final humiliation when the ties slid loose, allowing me to prise the boots from my feet. —  The Moor - Laurie R King - Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes 04
  • The shawl covering her head worked loose, and she felt the stickiness of congealed blood against her cheek. —  Prince of the Night
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

thin ·  long ·  coarse ·  tight

Used in the same contextWord Family

loose:   looser ·  loosest
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English louse, los, from Old Norse lauss; see leu- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English loos, los, louse, lowse, lause, a variant (due to the verb, or to the influence of Dutch loos, etc.) of lees, les, from Anglo-Saxon leás, loose, false, = Old Saxon lōs = OFries. las = Middle Dutch loos, loose, false, Dutch los, loose, loos, false, = Middle Low German lōs, los = Old High German Middle High German lōs, loose, false, German los, loose, = Icelandic laus = Danish Swedish lös, loose, = Gothic (Moesogothic) laus, empty, vain; from the root *lus of Anglo-Saxon leósan, lose: see loose, v., leese, lose, and lease. The Anglo-Saxon adjective leæs is also the source of the English suffix -less, q. v.
  2. Early modern English also louse, lowse, leuse; from Middle English lousen (a variant, after the adjective, of losen, lose, from Anglo-Saxon losian), mixed with the different but related verb lesen, from Anglo-Saxon lēsan, ly¯san = Old Saxon lōsjan, lōsōn = Dutch lossen = Middle Low German losen = Old High German lōsjan, lōsan, lōsōn, Middle High German lösen, German lösen = Icelandic leysa = Swedish lösa = Danish löse = Gothic (Moesogothic) lausjan, loose; from the adjective, Anglo-Saxon leás, etc., loose: see loose, adjective, and cf. lose.
 

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