Meaning & use
loosen up
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To warm up your muscles or joints with gentle movement so that they feel less stiff.
Grammar: Can take an object or not: loosen up your shoulders, or loosen up before the race.
Patterns
- loosen up before something
- loosen something up
Runners loosen up with gentle jogging before the race begins.
The therapist showed me how to loosen up my neck after a day at the computer.
Stretch for a few minutes to loosen your legs up.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To become, or help someone become, more relaxed and less nervous or serious.
Grammar: Often with a person as the subject: he loosened up; the jokes loosened the crowd up.
Patterns
- loosen up about something
- loosen someone up
He was shy at first, but after a coffee he started to loosen up.
The host told a joke to loosen up the audience.
You need to loosen up and enjoy the party.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To make rules or restrictions less strict.
Grammar: Often used with rules or policies as the object: loosen up the rules.
Patterns
- loosen up on something
- loosen up the rules
The school finally loosened up its dress code.
The government may loosen up on travel restrictions next month.
Word forms
| third person singular | loosens up |
|---|---|
| past tense | loosened up |
| past participle | loosened up |
| -ing form | loosening up |
Common combinations
- loosen up your muscles
- A warm shower can loosen up your muscles.
- loosen up a bit
- She loosened up a bit once the music started.
- loosen up the rules
- The club decided to loosen up the rules for new members.
- loosen up before exercise
- It's wise to loosen up before exercise.
- help someone loosen up
- A funny story can help everyone loosen up.
Synonyms and how they differ
- relax
- Relax is the general word for becoming calm, while loosen up often implies shaking off stiffness or tension first.
- warm up
- Warm up is used for physical preparation in exercise and does not apply to becoming less serious.
- unwind
- Unwind suggests resting after stress, usually after work, rather than shaking off shyness.
- lighten up
- Lighten up is used to tell someone to be less serious and sounds more like advice.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: loosen up or lose up?
loosen up vs lose up
Lose is a different verb meaning to no longer have something; the word in this phrasal verb is loosen, spelled with oo.
Practice
The comedian started with a funny story to help the nervous audience ____.
Choose one answer.
Loosen up means to become more relaxed, which a funny story can encourage. Tighten up would make people more tense, and shut up is rude.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “loosen up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.