looseness

loose  (ls)

adj. loos·er, loos·est

1. Not fastened, restrained, or contained: loose bricks.

2. Not taut, fixed, or rigid: a loose anchor line; a loose chair leg.

3. Free from confinement or imprisonment; unfettered: criminals loose in the neighborhood; dogs that are loose on the streets.

4. Not tight-fitting or tightly fitted: loose shoes.

5. Not bound, bundled, stapled, or gathered together: loose papers.

6. Not compact or dense in arrangement or structure: loose gravel.

7. Lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; idle: loose talk.

8. Not formal; relaxed: a loose atmosphere at the club.

9. Lacking conventional moral restraint in sexual behavior.

10. Not literal or exact: a loose translation.

11. Characterized by a free movement of fluids in the body: a loose cough; loose bowels.

adv.

In a loose manner.

v. loosed, loos·ing, loos·es

v.tr.

1. To let loose; release: loosed the dogs.

2. To make loose; undo: loosed his belt.

3. To cast loose; detach: hikers loosing their packs at camp.

4. To let fly; discharge: loosed an arrow.

5. To release pressure or obligation from; absolve: loosed her from the responsibility.

6. To make less strict; relax: a leader's strong authority that was loosed by easy times.

v.intr.

1. To become loose.

2. To discharge a missile; fire.

Idiom:

on the loose

1. At large; free.

2. Acting in an uninhibited fashion.

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[Middle English louse, los, from Old Norse lauss; see leu- in Indo-European roots.]

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loosely adv.

looseness n.

Synonyms: loose, lax, slack¹
These adjectives mean not tautly bound, held, or fastened: loose reins; a lax rope; slack sails.

Antonym: tight

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	looseness - frequent and watery bowel movements; can be a symptom of infection or food poisoning or colitis or a gastrointestinal tumor diarrhea, diarrhoea, looseness of the bowels dysentery - an infection of the intestines marked by severe diarrhea symptom - (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease the shits, the trots - obscene terms for diarrhea Montezuma's revenge - diarrhea contracted in Mexico or Central America
	2.	looseness - freedom from restraint; "the flexibility and looseness of the materials from which mythology is made" unrestraint - the quality of lacking restraint
	3.	looseness - a lack of strict accuracy; laxity of practice; "misunderstandings can often be traced to a looseness of expression" inaccuracy - the quality of being inaccurate and having errors
	4.	looseness - the quality of movability by virtue of being free from attachment or other restraints movability, movableness - the quality of being movable; capable of being moved or rearranged fixity, fastness, fixedness, secureness, fixture - the quality of being fixed in place as by some firm attachment
	5.	looseness - movement or space for movement; "there was too much play in the steering wheel" play movability, movableness - the quality of being movable; capable of being moved or rearranged wiggliness - a jerky back and forth kind of mobility; "he walked with the wiggliness of a child on high heels" slackness, slack - the quality of being loose (not taut); "he hadn't counted on the slackness of the rope" tautness, tightness - lack of movement or room for movement
	6.	looseness - dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure dissipation, licentiousness, profligacy, dissolution intemperateness, self-indulgence, intemperance - excess in action and immoderate indulgence of bodily appetites, especially in passion or indulgence; "the intemperance of their language"

Translations

looseness [ˈluːsnɪs] N

1. (gen) [of bandage, tie] → lo flojo; [of clothes] → holgura f, amplitud f; [of soil] → lo suelto
looseness of the bowels (Med) → diarrea f

2. (= imprecision) [of meaning, expression] → imprecisión f; [of translation] → lo aproximado

3. (= immorality) [of behaviour, morals] → lo disoluto

looseness

n → Lockerheit f; (of clothes) → Weite f; (of thinking) → Ungenauigkeit f; (of translation) → Freiheit f; looseness of the bowels → zu rege Darmtätigkeit; the looseness of her conduct → ihr loses or unmoralisches Benehmen; the looseness of the book’s structure → die lockere Struktur des Buches

looseness [ˈluːsnɪs] n (of knot, screw) → lentezza; (of rope) → scarsa tensione f; (of clothes) → ampiezza; (of translation) → approssimazione f; (of behaviour) → dissipazione f, dissolutezza

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looseness [ˈluːsnɪs] n (of knot, screw) → lentezza; (of rope) → scarsa tensione f; (of clothes) → ampiezza; (of translation) → approssimazione f; (of behaviour) → dissipazione f, dissolutezza