loser

See also: löser and løser

English

The runner in black is the loser.

Etymology

From Middle English loser, losere, equivalent to lose +‎ -er. In the sense of contemptible or worthless individual, perhaps an alteration of losel, which see.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /luːzə(ɹ)/
• IPA^(key): /luzɚ/
• Rhymes: -uːzə(ɹ)

Noun

loser (plural losers)

1. A person who loses; one who fails to win or thrive.

   Antonym: winner

   In a two-horse race there is always one winner and one loser.

   He was always a good loser.

2. Something of poor quality.
3. A person who is frequently unsuccessful in life.

   Synonym: failure

   That guy is a born loser!

   I'm a constant loser in love.

4. (derogatory) A contemptible or unfashionable person.

   Synonym: (archaic) losel

5. One who or that which loses something, such as extra weight, car keys, etc.
   • 1999, Larry Medsker, Lakhmi C. Jain, Recurrent Neural Networks: Design and Applications →ISBN, page 192:

     Another way to speed search (in general) is to order or bias the hypothesis space based on some heuristic. Suppose you are a habitual car key loser and that you keep track of where your keys turn up after each search.

   • 2004, Marianna S. Katona, Tales from the Berlin Wall: Recollections of Frequent Crossings →ISBN:

     But a West German reporting a lost passport in East Berlin during the years of the Wall was treated to a criminal investigation, with the passport loser as the potential criminal.

   • 2005, Maggie Greenwood-Robinson, The Biggest Loser: The Weight Loss Program to Transform Your Body, Health and Life →ISBN)
   • 2009, Jane Bryant Quinn, Making the Most of Your Money Now:

     You're counting on this insurance company to pay you a check many years in the future. But for some companies, disability coverage has been a money loser.

   • 2010, Cutting Myself in Half: 150 Pounds Lost, One Byte at a Time →ISBN, page 109:

     You have to think of yourself as an already amazing person who's hiding behind extra weight—a superhero in a disguise. If you follow the program, […] change the message from “I'm a big loser” to “I'm a big weight loser.”

Derived terms

Terms derived from loser

• born loser
• loser cruiser
• loser sign

• sore loser
• three-time loser

Related terms

• losel

Translations

person who fails to win

• Arabic: خَاسِر m (ḵāsir)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 輸家／输家 (zh) (shūjiā), 输家 (zh) (shūjiā)

• Finnish: häviäjä
• French: perdant (fr) m
• Georgian: დამარცხებული (damarcxebuli), წაგებული (c̣agebuli)
• German: Verlierer (de) m
• Greek: χαμένος (el) (chaménos)
• Hebrew: מַפְסִידָן m (mafsidán), לווּזֶר
• Hungarian: vesztes (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: perdente (it) m or f
• Japanese: 敗者 (ja) (はいしゃ, haisha)
• Persian: بازنده (fa) (bâzande)
• Portuguese: perdedor m
• Russian: проигра́вший (ru) (proigrávšij)
• Spanish: perdedor (es) m
• Swahili: mshindwa
• Swedish: förlorare (sv) c
• Turkish: kaybeden, yenik (tr), mağlup (tr)
• Walloon: pierdant m, pierdeu m

something of poor quality

• Russian: барахло́ (ru) n (baraxló), дрянь (ru) f (drjanʹ)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

person who is frequently unsuccessful in life

• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: epäonnistuja (fi), luuseri (fi)
• Georgian: უიღბლო (uiɣblo), ხელმოცარული (xelmocaruli), წარუმატებელი (c̣arumaṭebeli), ლუზერი (luzeri) (colloquial)
• German: Verlierer (de) m, Verlierertyp m, Versager (de) m, Loser (de) m
• Indonesian: pecundang (id), ^{(please verify)} bedebah (id)
• Italian: sfigato (it) m, fallito (it) m
• Japanese: 負け犬 (ja) (makeinu), 負け組 (makegumi)
• Maori: kūrapa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Navajo: baa hojoobáʼígíí
• Portuguese: perdedor m, fracassado (pt) m
• Russian: неуда́чник (ru) m (neudáčnik), неуда́чница (ru) f (neudáčnica), (neologism) лу́зер (ru) m (lúzɛr)
• Spanish: perdedor (es) m, fracasado (es) m, pringado (es) m
• Swedish: förlorare (sv) c
• Turkish: bahtsız (tr), talihsiz (tr), şanssız (tr), ^{(please verify)} kaybeden, ^{(please verify)} yenik (tr), ^{(please verify)} mağlup (tr)
• Ukrainian: невда́ха m or f (nevdáxa)
• Walloon: ^{(please verify)} rinonceu (wa) m

contemptible or unfashionable person

• Arabic: فَاشِل m (fāšil)
• Finnish: luuseri (fi)
• Georgian: გოიმი (ka) (goimi)
• German: Verlierertyp m, Versager (de) m, Loser (de) m
• Indonesian: bedebah (id)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: sfigato (it) m
• Maori: kūrapa
• Portuguese: perdedor m
• Russian: ничто́жество (ru) n (ničtóžestvo), неуда́чник (ru) m (neudáčnik)
• Turkish: ezik (tr)

one who loses something

• Finnish: hukkaaja; laihduttaja (fi) (one who loses weight)
• German: Verlierer (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} похуде́вший (ru) m (poxudévšij)

Anagrams

• Osler, Rosel, Soler, eorls, lo-res, lores, orles, relos, roles, rôles, slore, soler, sorel

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English loser.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lo‧ser

Noun

loser m (plural losers, diminutive losertje n)

1. loser

Synonyms

• mislukkeling

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French

Alternative forms

• looser, looseur, louseur

Etymology

From English loser.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu.zœʁ/
• IPA^(key): /lu.zɚ/

Noun

loser m (plural losers)

1. (colloquial) loser

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈloːzɐ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

loser

1. comparative degree of lose
2. inflection of lose:
   1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
   2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular
   3. strong genitive plural

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

loser m

1. indefinite plural of los