loss

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The fact of no longer having something you once had.

   The loss of his job left him deeply worried.

2. 2
   noun

   The death of a person you love.

   I'm so sorry for the loss of your grandfather.

3. 3
   noun

   A defeat in a game or competition.

   Everyone expected them to win, so their loss was a shock.

4. 4
   noun

   The amount by which a business spends more than it earns.

   The company operated at a loss last year.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Loss goes back to Old English and belongs to the same historical word family as lose and Middle English loose. This family is also related to the suffix -less, meaning “without.”

From Middle English los, from Old English los (“damage, destruction, loss”), from Proto-West Germanic *los, from Proto-Germanic *lusą (“dissolution, break-up, loss”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut, sunder, separate, loose, lose”). Cognate with Icelandic los (“dissolution, looseness, break-up”), Old English lor, forlor (“loss, ruin”), Middle High German verlor (“loss, ruin”). More at lose.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary