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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

loop.

A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/luːp/
  1. A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening.

  2. The opening so formed.

  3. A shape produced by a curve that bends around and crosses itself.

    Arches, loops, and whorls are patterns found in fingerprints.
  4. A process that returns to its beginning and then repeats itself in the same sequence.

    feedback loop
    time loop
  5. A ring road or beltway.

  6. An endless strip of tape or film allowing continuous repetition.

  7. A complete circuit for an electric current.

  8. A programmed sequence of instructions that is repeated until or while a particular condition is satisfied.

  9. An edge that begins and ends on the same vertex.

  10. A path that starts and ends at the same point.

  11. A bus or rail route, walking route, etc. that starts and ends at the same point.

  12. A place at a terminus where trains or trams can turn round and go back the other way without having to reverse; a balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop.

  13. A passing loop.

  14. A quasigroup with an identity element.

  15. A loop-shaped intrauterine device.

  16. An aerobatic maneuver in which an aircraft flies a circular path in a vertical plane.

  17. A small, narrow opening; a loophole.

  18. Alternative form of loup (“mass of iron”).

    alt-of · alternative
  19. A flexible region in a protein's secondary structure.

  20. A sports league

    Canada · US · dated
  21. The curved path of the ball bowled by a spin bowler.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English loupe (“noose, loop”), earlier lowp-knot (“loop-knot”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hlaup (“a run”), used in the sense of a "running knot", from hlaupa (“to leap”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to leap, run”). Compare Swedish löp-knut (“loop-knot”), Danish løb-knude (“a running knot”), Danish løb (“a course”). More at leap. The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/luːp/
  1. To form something into a loop.

    transitive
  2. To fasten or encircle something with a loop.

    transitive
  3. To fly an aircraft in a loop.

    transitive
  4. To move something in a loop.

    transitive
  5. To play something (such as a song or video) in a loop.

    transitive
  6. To join electrical components to complete a circuit.

    transitive
  7. To duplicate the route of a pipeline.

    transitive
  8. To create an error in a computer program so that it runs in an endless loop and the computer freezes up.

    transitive
  9. To form a loop.

    intransitive
  10. To move in a loop.

    intransitive
    The program loops until the user presses a key.
  11. To place in a loop.

  12. To have the teacher progress through multiple school years with the same students.

    ambitransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English loupe (“noose, loop”), earlier lowp-knot (“loop-knot”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hlaup (“a run”), used in the sense of a "running knot", from hlaupa (“to leap”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to leap, run”). Compare Swedish löp-knut (“loop-knot”), Danish løb-knude (“a running knot”), Danish løb (“a course”). More at leap. The verb is derived from the noun.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.