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loss

[laws, los]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get: to bear the loss of a robbery.

something that is lost: The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.

an amount or number lost: The loss of life increased each day.

the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had: the loss of old friends.

death, or the fact of being dead: to mourn the loss of a grandparent.

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the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc.: to discover the loss of a document.

a losing by defeat; failure to win: the loss of a bet.

failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.

failure to preserve or maintain: loss of engine speed at high altitudes.

10.

destruction or ruin: the loss of a ship by fire.

11.

a thing or a number of related things that are lost or destroyed to some extent: Most buildings in the burned district were a total loss.

12.

Military.

the losing of soldiers by death, capture, etc.

Often, losses. the number of soldiers so lost.

13.

Insurance. occurrence of an event, as death or damage of property, for which the insurer makes indemnity under the terms of a policy.

14.

Electricity. a measure of the power lost in a system, as by conversion to heat, expressed as a relation between power input and power output, as the ratio of or difference between the two quantities.

COLLAPSE

Idiom

15.

at a loss,

at less than cost; at a financial loss.

in a state of bewilderment or uncertainty; puzzled; perplexed: We are completely at a loss for an answer to the problem.

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Loss is always a great word to know.

So is callithumpian. Does it mean:

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

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Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English los destruction; cognate with Old Norse los looseness, breaking up. See lose, loose

Related forms

pre·loss, noun

Can be confused: loose, loosen, lose, loss.

Synonyms
4. privation, deprivation.

Antonyms
1. gain.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Loss

Example Sentences

To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.

The loss was smaller than in each of the previous five months.

If the gain and loss are close to equivalent, consider your audience.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

loss (lɒs)

—n
1.	the act or an instance of losing
2.	the disadvantage or deprivation resulting from losing: a loss of reputation
3.	the person, thing, or amount lost: a large loss
4.	(plural) military personnel lost by death or capture
5.	(sometimes plural) the amount by which the costs of a business transaction or operation exceed its revenue
6.	a measure of the power lost in an electrical system expressed as the ratio of or difference between the input power and the output power
7.	insurance
	a. an occurrence of something that has been insured against, thus giving rise to a claim by a policyholder
	b. the amount of the resulting claim
8.	at a loss
	a. uncertain what to do; bewildered
	b. rendered helpless (for lack of something): at a loss for words
	c. at less than the cost of buying, producing, or maintaining (something): the business ran at a loss for several years

[C14: noun probably formed from lost, past participle of losen to perish, from Old English lōsian to be destroyed, from los destruction]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

loss

O.E. los "loss, destruction," from P.Gmc. *lausam- (see lose). The modern word, however, probably evolved 14c. from lost, the original pp. of lose. Phrase at a loss (1592) originally refers to hounds losing the scent. To cut one's losses is from 1912.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

loss definition

jargon
Something (not a person) that loses; a situation in which something is losing. Emphatic forms include "moby loss", and "total loss", "complete loss". Common interjections are "What a loss!" and "What a moby loss!" Note that "moby loss" is OK even though **"moby loser" is not used; applied to an abstract noun, moby is simply a magnifier, whereas when applied to a person it implies substance and has positive connotations.
Compare lossage.
(1995-04-19)

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

loss

see at a loss; cut one's losses; dead loss.