loser

See also: Loser, löser, and løser

English

Etymology

From Middle English loser, losere, equivalent to lose +‎ -er. In the sense of contemptible or worthless individual, perhaps an alteration of losel, which see.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /luːzə(ɹ)/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /luzɚ/
- Audio (Mid-Atlantic US): (file)
Rhymes: -uːzə(ɹ)

Noun

loser (plural losers)

A person who loses; one who fails to win or thrive.
Antonym: winner

In a two-horse race there is always one winner and one loser.

He was always a good loser.
Something of poor quality.
(informal, US) A person who is frequently unsuccessful in life.
Synonym: failure

That guy is a born loser!

I'm a constant loser in love.
(derogatory) A contemptible or unfashionable person.
Synonyms: crumb, (archaic) losel, louse; see also Thesaurus:worthless person
- 2012, Frank Shamrock, Charles Fleming, “Fatherhood”, in Uncaged: My Life as a Champion MMA Fighter, Chicago Review Press, →ISBN, page 203:
  Mike didn't work but insisted that Jewell have a job. He would stay home and do whatever — smoke pot, screw around. He was a total loser, and she picked up the slack. That's around the time that Mom met her soon-to-be-next husband. He immediately moved in. He was a loser, too, with the same work ethic Mike had.
One who or that which loses something, such as extra weight, car keys, etc.
- 1999, Larry Medsker, Lakhmi C. Jain, Recurrent Neural Networks: Design and Applications, →ISBN, page 192:
  Another way to speed search (in general) is to order or bias the hypothesis space based on some heuristic. Suppose you are a habitual car key loser and that you keep track of where your keys turn up after each search.
- 2004, Marianna S. Katona, Tales from the Berlin Wall: Recollections of Frequent Crossings, →ISBN:
  But a West German reporting a lost passport in East Berlin during the years of the Wall was treated to a criminal investigation, with the passport loser as the potential criminal.
- 2005, Maggie Greenwood-Robinson, The Biggest Loser: The Weight Loss Program to Transform Your Body, Health and Life, →ISBN:
- 2009, Jane Bryant Quinn, Making the Most of Your Money Now:
  You're counting on this insurance company to pay you a check many years in the future. But for some companies, disability coverage has been a money loser.
- 2010, Cutting Myself in Half: 150 Pounds Lost, One Byte at a Time, →ISBN, page 109:
  You have to think of yourself as an already amazing person who's hiding behind extra weight—a superhero in a disguise. If you follow the program, […] change the message from “I'm a big loser” to “I'm a big weight loser.”
A losing proposition, one that is likely to lose or already has lost (such as a losing bet or, analogously, a predictably fruitless task or errand).
- 1988, Alice Taylor, To School Through the Fields: An Irish Country Childhood, Brandon Ltd, →ISBN, page 58:
  A new Guard came to town and decided to flex his muscles with George. We could have told him that he was on a loser but bright young men, then as now, know it all.
- 2001, Peter Svoboda, Beating the Casinos at Their Own Game‎^[1], Square One Publishers, →ISBN, page 57:
  Hardway bets are losers if they are rolled in any other combination—called "soft" or "easy" numbers. For instance, a Hardway bet on a 4 is a loser if the dice show as 3 and 1. Betting on a Hard 8 is a loser if the dice are rolled as a 5 and 3, or a 6 and 2. Naturally, if the 7 is rolled before the Hardway number shows, the bet is also a loser.
- 2021 December 17, Eric Ralph, “SpaceX to replicate Starbase, build multiple Starship launch pads in Florida”, in Teslarati‎^[2], retrieved 2022-08-07:
  In terms of betting on outcomes, Mars is a clear loser.
(slang) A person convicted of a crime, especially more than once.
He's a three-time loser doing twenty years.

Hyponyms

(person who fails): wooden spooner, wooden spoonist (last-place finisher)

Derived terms

Related terms

losel

Translations

person who fails to win

Arabic: خَاسِر m (ḵāsir)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 輸家 / 输家 (zh) (shūjiā)
Finnish: häviäjä (fi)
French: perdant (fr) m, perdante (fr) f
Galician: perdedor m, perdedora f
Georgian: დამარცხებული (damarcxebuli), წაგებული (c̣agebuli)
German: Verlierer (de) m, Verliererin (de) f
Greek: χαμένος (el) (chaménos)
Hebrew: מַפְסִידָן m (mafsidán), לווּזֶר
Hungarian: vesztes (hu)
Italian: perdente (it) m or f
Japanese: 敗者 (ja) (はいしゃ, haisha)
Korean: 패자(敗者) (ko) (paeja)
Maori: wairuatoa
Persian: بازنده (fa) (bâzande)
Polish: przegrany (pl) m, przegrana (pl) f
Portuguese: perdedor m
Russian: проигра́вший (ru) (proigrávšij)
Spanish: perdedor (es) m
Swahili: mshindwa
Swedish: förlorare (sv) c
Turkish: kaybeden, yenik (tr), mağlup (tr)
Ukrainian: переможений m (peremoženyj), переможена f (peremožena)
Walloon: pierdant m, pierdeu m

something of poor quality

Finnish: romu (fi)
Polish: bubel (pl) m, badziewie (pl) m, kiepścizna f
Russian: барахло́ (ru) n (baraxló), дрянь (ru) f (drjanʹ)

person who is frequently unsuccessful in life

Bulgarian: неудачник (bg) m (neudačnik)
Chechen: кадоцахо (kadocaxo)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 失敗者 / 失败者 (zh) (shībàizhě)
Finnish: epäonnistuja (fi), luuseri (fi) (informal), häviäjä (fi), tomppeli (fi), tunari (fi) (informal), tohelo (fi) (informal)
French: raté (fr) m, tocard (fr) m
Georgian: უიღბლო (uiɣblo), ხელმოცარული (xelmocaruli), წარუმატებელი (c̣arumaṭebeli), ლუზერი (luzeri) (colloquial)
German: Verlierer (de) m, Verlierertyp m, Versager (de) m, Loser (de) m
Indonesian: pecundang (id), ^{(please verify)} bedebah (id)
Italian: sfigato (it) m, fallito (it) m
Japanese: 負け犬 (ja) (まけいぬ, makeinu), 負け組 (まけぐみ, makegumi), 失敗者 (しっぱいしゃ, shippaisha), ルーザー (rūzā)
Korean: 실패자(失敗者) (silpaeja), 루저 (rujeo)
Maori: kūrapa, wairuatoa
Navajo: baa hojoobáʼígíí
Polish: nieudacznik (pl) m, nieudacznica f, przegryw (pl) m (slang)
Portuguese: perdedor m, fracassado (pt) m, falhado (pt) m
Russian: неуда́чник (ru) m (neudáčnik), неуда́чница (ru) f (neudáčnica), лу́зер (ru) m (lúzɛr) (neologism)
Spanish: perdedor (es) m, fracasado (es) m, pringado (es) m
Swedish: förlorare (sv) c
Turkish: bahtsız (tr), talihsiz (tr), şanssız (tr), ^{(please verify)} kaybeden, ^{(please verify)} yenik (tr), ^{(please verify)} mağlup (tr), ezik (tr)
Ukrainian: невда́ха m or f (nevdáxa)
Walloon: ^{(please verify)} rinonceu (wa) m
Zazaki: bêbext c, bêsıhud c

contemptible or unfashionable person

Arabic: فَاشِل m (fāšil)
Finnish: luuseri (fi) (informal), renttu (fi), lurjus (fi)
French: minable (fr) m, tocard (fr) m, bon à rien (fr) m, raté (fr) m
Georgian: გოიმი (ka) (goimi)
German: Verlierertyp m, Versager (de) m, Loser (de) m
Icelandic: aumingi m
Indonesian: bedebah (id)
Italian: sfigato (it) m
Maori: kūrapa
Portuguese: perdedor m
Russian: ничто́жество (ru) n (ničtóžestvo), неуда́чник (ru) m (neudáčnik), неуда́чница (ru) f (neudáčnica)
Turkish: ezik (tr)
Zazaki: êmıs c

one who loses something

Finnish: hukkaaja; laihduttaja (fi) (one who loses weight)
German: Verlierer (de) m, Verliererin (de) f
Japanese: 落とし主 (おとしぬし, otoshinushi), 落し主 (おとしぬし, otoshinushi)
Korean: 분실자(紛失者) (bunsilja), 유실자(遺失者) (yusilja)
Polish: zgubca (pl) m (rare or archaic), zgubiciel m (rare or archaic), straciciel m (rare or archaic)
Russian: потеря́вший (ru) m (poterjávšij) (one who lost something), похуде́вший (ru) m (poxudévšij) (one who loses weight)