loss

[laws, los] /lɔs, lɒs/
noun
1.
detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get:
to bear the loss of a robbery.
2.
something that is lost:
The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.
3.
an amount or number lost:
The loss of life increased each day.
4.
the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had:
the loss of old friends.
5.
death, or the fact of being dead:
to mourn the loss of a grandparent.
6.
the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc.:
to discover the loss of a document.
7.
a losing by defeat; failure to win:
the loss of a bet.
8.
failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.
9.
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.
  1. the losing of soldiers by death, capture, etc.
  2. 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.
Idioms
15.
at a loss,
  1. at less than cost; at a financial loss.
  2. in a state of bewilderment or uncertainty; puzzled; perplexed:
    We are completely at a loss for an answer to the problem.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English los destruction; cognate with Old Norse los looseness, breaking up. See lose, loose
Related forms
preloss, noun
Can be confused
loose, loosen, lose, loss.
Synonyms
4. privation, deprivation.
Antonyms
1. gain.
Examples from the web for loss
  • Still, space travel has lost much of its luster, and that loss has even rippled through science fiction writing.
  • Hearing loss is being partly or totally unable to hear sound in one or both ears.
  • Evidently, your own loss of faith caused you to overstate the cases of science having gone wrong.
  • The result has been a loss of confidence in the dollar.
  • Most areas of the world's oceans are experiencing habitat loss.
  • Ecological changes from predator loss found to be ubiquitous.
  • Muscle function loss is when a muscle doesn't work or move normally.
  • Each is concerned with loss or change-sometimes dramatic, sometimes a slow, barely perceptible seeping away.
  • Shrimping and fishing industries could also feel the pinch of wetland loss.
  • Aside from normal daily water loss in the form of urine, the major source of body water loss is sweat.
British Dictionary definitions for loss

loss

/lɒs/
noun
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.
(pl) military personnel lost by death or capture
5.
(sometimes pl) 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)
  1. an occurrence of something that has been insured against, thus giving rise to a claim by a policyholder
  2. the amount of the resulting claim
8.
at a loss
  1. uncertain what to do; bewildered
  2. rendered helpless (for lack of something): at a loss for words
  3. at less than the cost of buying, producing, or maintaining (something): the business ran at a loss for several years
Word Origin
C14: noun probably formed from lost, past participle of losen to perish, from Old English lōsian to be destroyed, from los destruction
Word Origin and History for loss
n.

Old English los "loss, destruction," from Proto-Germanic *lausa- (see lose). The modern word, however, probably evolved 14c. with a weaker sense, from lost, the original past participle of lose. Phrase at a loss (1590s) originally refers to hounds losing the scent. To cut (one's) losses is from 1885, originally in finance.

loss in Technology

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)

Idioms and Phrases with loss

loss

see: