The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

that the fort was surrounded by Cochise's braves. 2 alert, qui
vive; guard, watch: Be on the lookout for shoplifters. 3
responsibility, worry, concern, problem, difficulty, Colloq
headache: How he wastes his free time is his lookout, how he
spends his working time is ours.
loom v. 1 appear, emerge, take shape or form, materialize, surface,
arise: A huge figure loomed out of the fog. 2 menace, impend,
threaten, overshadow, tower, dominate, hang or hover over:
Count Dracula's dark castle loomed over us. 3 loom large.
dominate, predominate, play a big or an important role or part:
Sales to children loom large in your predictions.
loop n. 1 hoop, noose, ring, circle, bow, eye, eyelet, coil, whorl,
Nautical bend: I caught my toe in a loop of rope and fell on
the deck.
--v. 2 twist, coil, wind, tie, circle, curl, entwine, turn,
ring, Nautical bend: Loop the thread round the crochet hook and
pull it through.
loophole n. outlet, way out, means of escape, escape, subterfuge,
pretext, evasion, quibble, Colloq dodge: They couldn't
prosecute him because he found a loophole in the law.
loose adj. 1 unattached, unconnected, disconnected, detached, free,
unsecured, unfastened, movable: I have a loose tooth. The
vacuum cleaner will pick up any loose bits. 2 unconfined,
untied, unfettered, released, freed, unshackled, unchained;
free, at liberty, at large, on the loose, untrammelled: In
Pamplona, they allow loose bulls to run through the streets to
the arena. 3 unconfining, free-flowing, flowing, baggy, slack,
hanging: That skirt is loose on you since you lost weight. 4
disordered, disorganized, unbound, untied, messy; strewn or
spread or tossed or thrown about or around, scattered (about or
around), in disorder, in disarray, dispersed: On the desk was a
loose pile of papers. 5 rambling, disconnected, unstructured,
unconnected, discontinuous, non-specific, unspecific,
indefinite, imprecise, inexact, inaccurate, free, broad, rough,
offhand, casual, careless, untidy, sloppy, slapdash, general,
vague: He gave a loose description of his assailant. A loose
translation does not convey the flavour of the original. 6 lax,
relaxed, negligent, careless, sloppy: Discipline has been quite