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View synonyms for loose end

loose end

noun

  1. a part or piece left hanging, unattached, or unused:

    Remind me to tack down that loose end on the stairway carpet.

  2. an unsettled detail, as of a business matter:

    The arrangements have been made, except for a few loose ends.



loose end

noun

  1. a detail that is left unsettled, unexplained, or incomplete
  2. at a loose end
    without purpose or occupation
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of loose end1

First recorded in 1540–50
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. at loose ends, in an uncertain or unsettled situation or position: Also at a loose end.

    Ever since leaving the company, he's been at loose ends.

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Example Sentences

On the standing side of the rope, create a small loop that faces the loose end of the rope.

The United States, you may not be surprised to learn, is on the loose end of the spectrum — although not in the top five.

“A loose end is one way that Isaac put it,” said Burnett at his guilty-plea hearing.

Burnett said that Aguigui called the killings a “loose end.”

He passed a miserable week, unable to work, at a loose end in London during the height of the season.

And like the young professional man at a loose end, I made a pretence of looking through papers.

Then I sat down at a loose end, very much like a young professional man, doctor or estate-agent, waiting for the next client.

The string's tangled up about as bad as it was before, but I believe you're gettin' hold of the loose end.

The loose end of the tracing line, about an inch thick, was hanging near me.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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