Loosen
verbTo make something less tight, firm, or fixed; to slacken or relax.
How to spell loosen
6 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce loosen
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does loosen mean?
- verbTo make something less tight, firm, or fixed; to slacken or relax.
Loosen in a sentence
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He stopped to loosen his tie after the long meeting.
-
A few drops of oil will loosen the rusted bolt.
Where does loosen come from?
Language of origin: Old Norse
The base word loose came into English from Old Norse lauss, meaning 'free, unbound, or empty', which arrived with Scandinavian settlers and gradually displaced related native forms. By the late Middle Ages 'loose' was a settled English adjective for anything not firmly fixed. The verb 'loosen' was then built inside English by adding the suffix -en, the same productive ending that turns 'hard' into 'harden' and 'wide' into 'widen', carrying the sense 'to make something become' (here, to make something loose). It first appears in the 1500s, replacing the older simple verb 'loose' for the act of slackening or untying. The double 'oo' that trips writers comes straight from the spelling of loose, and the single 's' is what keeps it distinct from the unrelated 'lose'.
How the word is built
- loose (not tight, from Old Norse lauss)
- -en (verb suffix: to make or become)
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