loosen

English

Etymology

loose +‎ -en

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈluːsn̩/, X-SAMPA: /"lu:sn=/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

loosen (third-person singular simple present loosens, present participle loosening, simple past and past participle loosened)

1. make something less tight; unfasten

   After the Thanksgiving meal, Bill loosened his belt.

Translations

make something less tight; unfasten

• Ancient Greek: λύω (luō)
• Dutch: losmaken (nl)
• Finnish: löysätä (fi), höllätä (fi)
• French: desserrer (fr)
• German: lösen (de), lockern (de)
• Irish: scaoil (ga)
• Italian: allentare (it)
• Japanese: ゆるめる (ja) (yurumeru), ほどく (ja) (hodoku)
• Latin: labefacio (la)

• Maori: whakatangatanga (mi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: løsne (nb), løse (nb)

  Nynorsk: løyse (nn)

• Romanian: desface (ro)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese Sardinian: ammollai

  Gallurese Sardinian: allintà, allinà

  Logudorese Sardinian: allenare

• Spanish: aflojar (es), soltar (es)

Antonyms

• tighten

Derived terms

• loosen the apron strings
• loosen the purse strings
• loosener

Related terms

• loose
• unloosen

See also

• lose