Meaning & use
profound loss
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable or uncountable
A very deep sense of grief or damage caused by losing someone or something important.
Grammar: Usually singular with an or the: a profound loss.
Patterns
- a profound loss for someone
- a profound loss to something
The death of their founder was a profound loss for the whole community.
She spoke quietly about the profound loss of her brother.
Retirement brought a profound loss of purpose for him.
Common combinations
- suffer a profound loss
- The family suffered a profound loss when the farm burned.
- feel a profound loss
- Fans feel a profound loss at the singer's passing.
- a profound loss to the world of science
- His death is a profound loss to the world of science.
- mourn a profound loss
- The town mourned a profound loss.
- profound sense of loss
- There was a profound sense of loss after the team was disbanded.
Synonyms and how they differ
- deep loss
- Deep loss is plainer and more everyday; profound loss sounds more formal and weighty.
- great loss
- Great loss focuses on size or importance, while profound loss stresses emotional depth.
- bereavement
- Bereavement is only about the death of someone close, whereas profound loss can involve other things.
Opposites
Word family
- profound adjective
- very deep or intense
- profoundly adverb
- to a very deep degree
- profundity noun
- great depth of thought or feeling
- lose verb
- to no longer have something
Commonly confused: profound loss or profane?
profound loss vs profane
Profane means disrespectful toward sacred things or vulgar; profound means very deep.
Practice
The letter expressed sympathy for the family's ______ after the accident.
Choose one answer.
Profound means very deep and pairs naturally with loss. Profuse means abundant, and the others have unrelated meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “profound loss”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.