Loose vs. Loosen — What's the Difference?

Not firmly or tightly fixed in place; detached or able to be detached

To make looser or less tight

(of a garment) not fitting tightly or closely

To free from restraint, pressure, or strictness

Not close, compact, or solid in structure or formation

To free (the bowels) from constipation.

Not strict or exact

To become loose or looser

Engaging in casual sexual encounters or relationships

(transitive) To make loose.

Loose play

(intransitive) To become loose.

Set free; release

(transitive) To disengage (a device that restrains).

Fire (a bullet, arrow, etc.)

(intransitive) To become unfastened or undone.

Not fastened, restrained, or contained

(transitive) To free from restraint; to set at liberty.

Not taut, fixed, or rigid

(transitive) To relieve (the bowels) from constipation; to promote defecation.

Free from confinement or imprisonment; unfettered

To create a breach or rift between (two parties).

Not tight-fitting or tightly fitted

To sail away (from the shore).

Not bound, bundled, stapled, or gathered together

To make loose; to free from tightness, tension, firmness, or fixedness; to make less dense or compact; as, to loosen a string, or a knot; to loosen a rock in the earth.

Not compact or dense in arrangement or structure

To free from restraint; to set at liberty..

Lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; idle

To remove costiveness from; to facilitate or increase the alvine discharges of.

Not formal; relaxed

To become loose; to become less tight, firm, or compact.

Lacking conventional moral restraint in sexual behavior.

Make loose or looser;

Not literal or exact

Make less severe or strict;

Characterized by a free movement of fluids in the body

Become less severe or strict;

In a loose manner.

Disentangle and raise the fibers of;

To let loose; release

Cause to become loose;

To make loose; undo

Make less dense;

To cast loose; detach

Become loose or looser or less tight;

To let fly; discharge

To release pressure or obligation from; absolve

To make less strict; relax

(transitive) To let loose, to free from restraints.

(transitive) To unfasten, to loosen.

(transitive) To make less tight, to loosen.

(intransitive) Of a grip or hold, to let go.

(archery) To shoot (an arrow).

(obsolete) To set sail.

(obsolete) To solve; to interpret.

Not fixed in place tightly or firmly.

Not held or packaged together.

Not under control.

Not fitting closely

Not compact.

Relaxed.

Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate.

Indiscreet.

(somewhat dated) Free from moral restraint; immoral, unchaste.

Not being in the possession of any competing team during a game.

(dated) Not costive; having lax bowels.

(of volumes of materials) Measured loosely stacked or disorganized (such as of firewood).

Having oversteer.

(archery) The release of an arrow.

(obsolete) A state of laxity or indulgence; unrestrained freedom, abandonment.

(rugby) All play other than set pieces (scrums and line-outs).

Freedom from restraint.

A letting go; discharge.

(archery) begin shooting; release your arrows

Unbound; untied; unsewed; not attached, fastened, fixed, or confined; as, the loose sheets of a book.

Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty, habit, etc.; - with from or of.

Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.

Not dense, close, compact, or crowded; as, a cloth of loose texture.

Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate; as, a loose style, or way of reasoning.

Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to some standard of right.

Unconnected; rambling.

Lax; not costive; having lax bowels.

Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman.

Containing or consisting of obscene or unchaste language; as, a loose epistle.

Freedom from restraint.

A letting go; discharge.

To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening; to remove the shackles or fastenings of; to set free; to relieve.

To release from anything obligatory or burdensome; to disengage; hence, to absolve; to remit.

To relax; to loosen; to make less strict.

To solve; to interpret.

To set sail.

Grant freedom to; free from confinement

Turn loose or free from restraint;

Make loose or looser;

Become loose or looser or less tight;

Not restrained or confined or attached;

Not compact or dense in structure or arrangement;

(of a ball in sport) not in the possession or control of any player;

Not tight; not closely constrained or constricted or constricting;

Not officially recognized or controlled;

Not literal;

Emptying easily or excessively;

Not affixed;

Not tense or taut;

(of textures) full of small openings or gaps;

Not fixed firmly or tightly;

Lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility;

Not carefully arranged in a package;

Freely producing mucus;

Having escaped, especially from confinement;

Casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior;

Not bound or fastened or gathered together;

Without restraint;