- loss
- [[t]lɒ̱s, AM lɔ͟ːs[/t]]
♦♦losses1) N-VAR: usu with supp Loss is the fact of no longer having something or having less of it than before.
...loss of sight...
The loss of income for the government is about $250 million a month.
...hair loss...
The job losses will reduce the total workforce to 7,000.
2) N-VAR: usu with supp Loss of life occurs when people die....a terrible loss of human life...
The allies suffered less than 20 casualties while enemy losses were said to be high.
They took the time to talk about the loss of Thomas and how their grief was affecting them.
...the loss of his mother.
Syn:4) N-VAR If a business makes a loss, it earns less than it spends.In 1986 Rover made a loss of nine hundred million pounds...
The company said it will stop producing fertilizer in 1990 because of continued losses.
...profit and loss.
Ant:5) N-UNCOUNT Loss is the feeling of sadness you experience when someone or something you like is taken away from you.Talk to others about your feelings of loss and grief...
He always woke with a sense of deep sorrow and depressing loss.
6) N-COUNT: usu sing A loss is the disadvantage you suffer when a valuable and useful person or thing leaves or is taken away.She said his death was a great loss to herself.
7) N-UNCOUNT: with supp The loss of something such as heat, blood, or fluid is the gradual reduction of it or of its level in a system or in someone's body....blood loss.
...weight loss.
...a rapid loss of heat from the body.
8) PHRASE: PHR after v If a business produces something at a loss, they sell it at a price which is less than it cost them to produce it or buy it.Timber owners have often produced lumber at a loss and survived these down cycles in demand.
9) PHRASE: usu v-link PHR, usu PHR for n, PHR to-inf If you say that you are at a loss, you mean that you do not know what to do in a particular situation.I was at a loss for what to do next...
The government is at a loss to know how to tackle the violence.
10) PHRASE: V inflects If you cut your losses, you stop doing what you were doing in order to prevent the bad situation that you are in becoming worse.Directors are right to cut their losses, admit they chose the wrong man and make a change.
11) PHRASE: usu v-link PHR (disapproval) If you say that someone or something is a dead loss, you have a low opinion of them because you think they are completely useless or unsuccessful. [BRIT, INFORMAL]I'd had no experience of organizing anything of that sort. I think I was largely a dead loss.
English dictionary. 2008.
