loosen
/ˈlusən/ verb B2- To make loose. · to loosen a knot; to loosen one's grip / hold on something· After the Thanksgiving meal, Bill loosened his belt.
- To become loose. · I noticed that my seatbelt had gradually loosened during the journey.
- To disengage (a device that restrains).
- To become unfastened or undone.
- To free from restraint; to set at liberty.
- To relieve (the bowels) from constipation; to promote defecation.
He/she/it loosens · Past loosened · Past participle loosened · -ing form loosening
Verb forms
- Base form
- loosen
- He/she/it
- loosens
- Past
- loosened
- Past participle
- loosened
- -ing form
- loosening
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
They won’t get this jumble loosened up in an hour.
In the first place, I was four years making the tools I possess, and have been two years scraping and digging out earth, hard as granite itself; then what toil and fatigue has it not been to remove huge stones I should once have deemed impossible to loosen.
In this passage he proposed to drive a level as they do in mines; this level would bring the two prisoners immediately beneath the gallery where the sentry kept watch; once there, a large excavation would be made, and one of the flag-stones with which the gallery was paved be so completely loosened that at the desired moment it would give way beneath the feet of the soldier, who, stunned by his fall, would be immediately bound and gagged by Dantès before he had power to offer any resistance.
Other matches
Learn loosen in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.