loosen

«loosen» in Mova's school dictionary: To make something less tight, firm or fixed: «loosen your… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (loosen, loosens, loosened, loosening)

meaning for a pupil

1) To make something less tight, firm or fixed: «loosen your belt», «loosen a screw». tree →

2) To become less tight. tree →

3) To make rules or control less strict. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life: loosen shoelaces, a jar lid or a tie. In first aid, loosen tight clothing around the neck of someone who feels faint. In science and DIY, you loosen screws by turning them anticlockwise. Phrases: «loosen up» (relax), «loosen your grip», «loosen a knot».

examples

• Loosen your shoelaces before you take off your shoes. tree →
• Dad loosened the lid of the jar. tree →
• Turn the screw anticlockwise to loosen it. tree →
• My tooth has loosened; it might fall out soon. tree →
• Loosen tight clothing if someone feels faint. tree →
• Shake your arms to loosen up before the race. tree →
• Lots were drawn, and one fell upon our Prince, whose chains were immediately loosened. tree →

note

Past: loosened. Opposite: tighten. Do not confuse «loose» (not tight, rhymes with «goose») with «lose» (not have any more). «Loosen up» means relax.

In the corpora

• Soap loosens dirt and germs so that water can rinse them away; water alone washes off much less.
• The blue reliever inhaler relaxes the airway muscles within minutes, like loosening a tight belt round the airways.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «loosen» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.