Lose

How to spell lose

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce lose

What does lose mean?

1. verbTo cease to have something, to mislay it, or to fail to win.

Lose in a sentence

• I always lose my keys.

• Try not to lose the game on purpose.

• Don't lose heart, you're doing well.

• I always lose at chess to my brother.

• If we lose this match, we're out of the tournament.

Where does lose come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word comes from the Old English losian, which meant 'to perish, be lost, or be destroyed', and from the related noun los meaning 'destruction' or 'loss'. These trace back to a Germanic root tied to loosening and letting go, the same family that gave us 'loose' and 'loss'. Over the Middle English period the verb shifted toward the modern senses of mislaying something, failing to keep it, or being defeated. The spelling is the great trap here: 'lose' has only one 'o' yet sounds like it should rhyme with 'rose', while its near neighbour 'loose' (with two o's) means slack or not tight. That single missing 'o' is exactly why fluent adults so often write 'loose' when they mean 'lose'.

How the word is built

• Verb. Related to "loss".