"take the L" meaning in English

See take the L in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-take the L.wav [US] Forms: takes the L [present, singular, third-person], taking the L [participle, present], took the L [past], taken the L [participle, past]
Etymology: From take + the + L (“losses (in sports statistics)”). Etymology templates: {{m|en|take}} take, {{m|en|the}} the, {{n-g|(in sports statistics)}} (in sports statistics), {{m|en|L|t=losses <span class="Latn" lang="en">(in sports statistics)</span>}} L (“losses (in sports statistics)”) Head templates: {{en-verb|take<,,took,taken> the L}} take the L (third-person singular simple present takes the L, present participle taking the L, simple past took the L, past participle taken the L)
  1. (slang) To take the loss; to lose a game or competition, to make a mistake or to otherwise be beset with unfortunate circumstances. Tags: slang
    Sense id: en-take_the_L-en-verb-kaw5OOp9 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 59 41
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see take, L. Synonyms: take the l, take an L, take an l, take Ls, take L's
    Sense id: en-take_the_L-en-verb--xK6nJo3

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for take the L meaning in English (3.1kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "take"
      },
      "expansion": "take",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "the"
      },
      "expansion": "the",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "(in sports statistics)"
      },
      "expansion": "(in sports statistics)",
      "name": "n-g"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "L",
        "t": "losses <span class=\"Latn\" lang=\"en\">(in sports statistics)</span>"
      },
      "expansion": "L (“losses (in sports statistics)”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From take + the + L (“losses (in sports statistics)”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes the L",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking the L",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took the L",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken the L",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> the L"
      },
      "expansion": "take the L (third-person singular simple present takes the L, present participle taking the L, simple past took the L, past participle taken the L)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "59 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane",
          "text": "Dom (David Jonsson): Please tell me you dumped his arse right there and then. […]\nYas (Vivian Oparah): Nope. I took a big L and got this prick some fucking hummus.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take the loss; to lose a game or competition, to make a mistake or to otherwise be beset with unfortunate circumstances."
      ],
      "id": "en-take_the_L-en-verb-kaw5OOp9",
      "links": [
        [
          "loss",
          "loss"
        ],
        [
          "lose",
          "lose"
        ],
        [
          "game",
          "game"
        ],
        [
          "competition",
          "competition"
        ],
        [
          "mistake",
          "mistake"
        ],
        [
          "beset",
          "beset"
        ],
        [
          "unfortunate",
          "unfortunate"
        ],
        [
          "circumstances",
          "circumstances"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) To take the loss; to lose a game or competition, to make a mistake or to otherwise be beset with unfortunate circumstances."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We took the L (elevated train) to get downtown last night.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see take, L."
      ],
      "id": "en-take_the_L-en-verb--xK6nJo3",
      "links": [
        [
          "take",
          "take#English"
        ],
        [
          "L",
          "L#English"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "21 79",
          "word": "take the l"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "21 79",
          "word": "take an L"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "21 79",
          "word": "take an l"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "21 79",
          "word": "take Ls"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "21 79",
          "word": "take L's"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-take the L.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-take_the_L.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-take_the_L.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-take_the_L.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-take_the_L.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "take the L"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "take"
      },
      "expansion": "take",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "the"
      },
      "expansion": "the",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "(in sports statistics)"
      },
      "expansion": "(in sports statistics)",
      "name": "n-g"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "L",
        "t": "losses <span class=\"Latn\" lang=\"en\">(in sports statistics)</span>"
      },
      "expansion": "L (“losses (in sports statistics)”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From take + the + L (“losses (in sports statistics)”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes the L",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking the L",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took the L",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken the L",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> the L"
      },
      "expansion": "take the L (third-person singular simple present takes the L, present participle taking the L, simple past took the L, past participle taken the L)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane",
          "text": "Dom (David Jonsson): Please tell me you dumped his arse right there and then. […]\nYas (Vivian Oparah): Nope. I took a big L and got this prick some fucking hummus.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take the loss; to lose a game or competition, to make a mistake or to otherwise be beset with unfortunate circumstances."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "loss",
          "loss"
        ],
        [
          "lose",
          "lose"
        ],
        [
          "game",
          "game"
        ],
        [
          "competition",
          "competition"
        ],
        [
          "mistake",
          "mistake"
        ],
        [
          "beset",
          "beset"
        ],
        [
          "unfortunate",
          "unfortunate"
        ],
        [
          "circumstances",
          "circumstances"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) To take the loss; to lose a game or competition, to make a mistake or to otherwise be beset with unfortunate circumstances."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We took the L (elevated train) to get downtown last night.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see take, L."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "take",
          "take#English"
        ],
        [
          "L",
          "L#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-take the L.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-take_the_L.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-take_the_L.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-take_the_L.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-take_the_L.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "take the l"
    },
    {
      "word": "take an L"
    },
    {
      "word": "take an l"
    },
    {
      "word": "take Ls"
    },
    {
      "word": "take L's"
    }
  ],
  "word": "take the L"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.