Meaning & use
loosen
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To make something less tight or firmly fixed, so that it moves more freely.
Grammar: Takes an object: loosen the screw, loosen your tie.
Patterns
- loosen something
- loosen something with something
He loosened his tie as soon as the meeting ended.
Use a wrench to loosen the bolt.
The gardener loosened the soil around the roots.
verbintransitive
To become less tight or less firmly fixed.
Grammar: No object; the thing itself changes: the knot loosened.
Patterns
- something loosens
The knot slowly loosened and the rope fell away.
His grip loosened as he fell asleep.
The tooth had begun to loosen before it fell out.
verbtransitivefigurative
To make rules, control or limits less strict.
Grammar: Takes an object such as rules or restrictions: loosen the rules.
Patterns
- loosen restrictions
- loosen your grip on something
The government plans to loosen restrictions on travel.
The new manager loosened the dress code.
Parents often loosen the rules as children grow older.
Word forms
| third person singular | loosens |
|---|---|
| past tense | loosened |
| -ing form | loosening |
Common combinations
- loosen a knot
- She carefully loosened the knot with her fingernail.
- loosen your grip
- Loosen your grip on the racket so your arm can relax.
- loosen restrictions
- The city agreed to loosen restrictions on outdoor dining.
- loosen up
- Stretch before the race to loosen up your legs.
- loosen a screw
- I need a screwdriver to loosen this screw.
Synonyms and how they differ
- slacken
- Slacken usually describes a rope, line or pace becoming less tight, while loosen can describe nearly anything fixed in place.
- relax
- Relax is used for muscles, rules and people, but it rarely applies to a bolt or a knot as loosen does.
- unfasten
- Unfasten means opening a fastener completely, whereas loosen only reduces the tightness.
- ease
- Ease suggests a careful and gentle reduction in tightness or pressure, while loosen is more general.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: loosen or lose?
loosen vs lose
Lose rhymes with news and means to fail to keep something, while loose rhymes with goose and means not tight.
Practice
My shoes were too tight, so I stopped to ____ the laces.
Choose one answer.
Loosen means to make less tight, which solves the problem of tight shoes. Tighten and fasten would make the shoes tighter, and lose is a spelling and meaning confusable.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “loosen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.