loss

Meanings

Noun

• The result of no longer possessing an object, a function, or a characteristic due to external causes or misplacement.
• The destruction or ruin of an object.
• Something that has been destroyed or ruined.
• Defeat; an instance of being defeated.
• The death of a person or animal.
• The condition of grief caused by losing someone or something, especially someone who has died.
• The sum an entity loses on balance.
• Electricity of kinetic power expended without doing useful work.

Verb

• Alternate spelling of lost

Origin

• From Middle English los, from Old English los ("damage, destruction, loss"), 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, Middle High German verlor ("loss, ruin"). More at lose.
• Pronunciation spelling of lost