Loose translation

A loose translation is one that gets the meaning generally right, but is not precise.

Keywords:

Learn

DefinitionYour turn

There are some words and concepts that don’t have direct translations between languages. One example is the word “saudade” in Portuguese. In these cases, you can’t directly translate it; you have to find a combination of words that, together, mean about the same thing. That is a “loose translation.” It’s not a perfect translation, but it tries to get the meaning basically right.

Learn more expressions like this


Plus+ feature

Write a sentence with this Expression

Get personal, human feedback on the examples that you write. Build the confidence to use this Expression in the real world

Back to Casual Dictionary