loosen up

verb

loosened up; loosening up; loosens up

intransitive verb

: to become less tense : relax

Synonyms of loosen up

• relax
• hang loose

Examples of loosen up in a Sentence

hoped that adding a second lane would loosen up traffic on that street

a high-pressure job that makes it hard for him to loosen up even on weekends

Recent Examples on the Web

Nix struggled to push the ball downfield most of the game with Denver's running game unable to loosen up the defense. — ABC News, 4 Oct. 2026

With Apatow at the helm, the chat took some comical turns, as might be expected, and also some unusually revealing ones, as Apatow getting McCartney to loosen up provided some real personal asides as well as screwball dialogue. — Chris Willman, Variety, 29 Sep. 2026

Navy, white and red carried throughout the lineup, which looked back to the designer’s signature ’90s prep but loosened up. — Ryma Chikhoune, Footwear News, 11 Sep. 2026

Take a few minutes to loosen up and get the blood flowing before starting your first interval. — Jakob Roze, HEALTH, 9 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for loosen up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup