as in mellow
chiefly US, informal
very loose or relaxed
The assistant manager had a loosey-goosey attitude about the store's return policy.
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Recent Examples of loosey-goosey
This isn’t to say McDermott has become loosey-goosey.
—
Dan Pompei, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
As Prynoski runs a quick session, the loosey-goosey fantasy RPG-meets-drinking game — whose kookily illustrated cards and dice all glow under blacklights — feels oddly like a natural next step for Titmouse.
—James Grebey, Rolling Stone, 28 Nov. 2025
If things are left too loosey-goosey and vague, that can result in mixed expectations within your organization.
—Kathleen Walch, Fortune, 11 Nov. 2025
While their Afrocentric paeans to the motherland signal a commitment to Black uplift, their loosey-goosey grooves—plundered from records by Mandrill, Manu Dibango, and Kool & the Gang, and frequently scratched straight from turntables to tape—drink from a deep well of pure pleasure.
—Pitchfork, 30 Sep. 2025
This worldwide experiment is loosey-goosey and carries weighty consequences.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Dogma is having a resurgence; Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is similarly satirical in that loosey-goosey way Smith does so well.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 July 2025
The boundary of entertainment is a lot more loosey-goosey.
—Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Jan. 2025
Some jokes are just too-hot for TV — especially for CBS — even if they’re delivered in the loosey-goosey Golden Globes ballroom (and even when those Golden Globes are hosted by Nikki Glaser).
—Tony Maglio, IndieWire, 5 Jan. 2025
Dan Pompei, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
As Prynoski runs a quick session, the loosey-goosey fantasy RPG-meets-drinking game — whose kookily illustrated cards and dice all glow under blacklights — feels oddly like a natural next step for Titmouse.
—James Grebey, Rolling Stone, 28 Nov. 2025
If things are left too loosey-goosey and vague, that can result in mixed expectations within your organization.
—Kathleen Walch, Fortune, 11 Nov. 2025
While their Afrocentric paeans to the motherland signal a commitment to Black uplift, their loosey-goosey grooves—plundered from records by Mandrill, Manu Dibango, and Kool & the Gang, and frequently scratched straight from turntables to tape—drink from a deep well of pure pleasure.
—Pitchfork, 30 Sep. 2025
This worldwide experiment is loosey-goosey and carries weighty consequences.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Dogma is having a resurgence; Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is similarly satirical in that loosey-goosey way Smith does so well.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 July 2025
The boundary of entertainment is a lot more loosey-goosey.
—Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Jan. 2025
Some jokes are just too-hot for TV — especially for CBS — even if they’re delivered in the loosey-goosey Golden Globes ballroom (and even when those Golden Globes are hosted by Nikki Glaser).
—Tony Maglio, IndieWire, 5 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for loosey-goosey
Adjective
-
Check out which Tiny Desk is most likely to surprise you, what has the most mellow groove and more.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
30 Dec. 2025
-
If Lopatin has increasingly pushed his solo music into a more over-the-top, dramatized mode over the years (with the refreshing exception of this year’s mellow Tranquilizer), all that theatricality finally finds a good outlet here, lifting the material to grandiose and otherworldly places.—
Sam Goldner,
Pitchfork,
23 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
The wide waistband, which stays in place without feeling constricting, has a seamless design for a smooth look.—
Isabel Garcia,
PEOPLE,
11 Jan. 2026
-
Martha Stewart is 84 years old and has some of the most enviable, smooth, radiant, and seemingly pore-free skin.—
Tamim Alnuweiri,
InStyle,
11 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
After more than six months of study, Tianwen-2 will leave the asteroid and drop the collected sample down to Earth before heading off to investigate 311P/PanSTARRS, a complicated celestial object that’s part asteroid and part comet.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
31 Dec. 2025
-
However, these days, a more collected look is preferred.—
Sarah Lyon,
The Spruce,
30 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
Iranian state television on Sunday morning took a page from demonstrators, having their correspondents appear on streets in several cities to show calm areas with a date stamp shown on screen.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
11 Jan. 2026
-
His brands, including Juicy Fruit and Spearmint, promoted gum as a way to calm nerves, curb hunger and stay focused.—
Deirdre Bardolf,
FOXNews.com,
10 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Her nonchalant, soft-glam is so perfectly mesmerizing, my TikTok and social media feeds are flooded with tutorials trying to re-create her signature style.—
Kaitlin Clapinski,
InStyle,
8 Jan. 2026
-
One fictional and the other real, the drug lords look nonchalant.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
Canales wants to keep the operation steady and focused this week.—
Mike Kaye
January 6,
Charlotte Observer,
6 Jan. 2026
-
Property owners and brokers, however, are encouraged by a steady increase in asking rents in the South Bay, according to the report.—
George Avalos,
Mercury News,
6 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Having no cool aunt of my own and no elder sisters, just teenage babysitters and camp counselors (each with their own unique but tenuous grasp on anatomy and reproductive science), the book felt warm, inviting, and—perhaps most important to my terrified, bleeding, self—safe.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Nov. 2025
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The porous polymer coating that reflects up to 97 percent of sunlight and radiates heat into the air, keeping surfaces up to six degrees cooler than the surrounding air even under direct sun.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
The Long Island Railroad drops you a few blocks from the sand, where a wide shoreline and a two-mile boardwalk set the tone for a slower, more easygoing day than anything happening back in the city.—
Lauren Dana Ellman,
Travel + Leisure,
2 Jan. 2026
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Plus, Fleury’s easygoing personality would be additive to the dressing room and should remove any potential concerns about how things might go if the organization carries three goaltenders with Calvin Pickard still in the mix, too.—
Chris Johnston,
New York Times,
2 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Loosey-goosey.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/loosey-goosey. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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