What does "loft" mean?
Air, the air; the sky, the heavens.
Loft
/lɒft/ adj, name, noun, verb
adj, name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Air, the air; the sky, the heavens.
- Grammar: loft is listed as adj, name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: attic, garret, aerie, agency.
- Useful contrasts: basement, compact apartment, depress.
- Usage evidence: When I look for something in our loft, I never come back empty-handed, but not with the thing I had hoped to find.
How to use "loft"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "loft" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "loft" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "loft" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "loft" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "loft" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "attic" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "loft", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Air, the air; the sky, the heavens. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 2 loss of fluid test
- 3 floor consisting of open space at the top of a house just below roof; often used for storage wordnet
- 4 An attic or similar space (often used for storage) in the roof of a house or other building. countable, uncountable
- 5 a raised shelter in which pigeons are kept wordnet
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 An attic or similar space (often used for storage) in the roof of a house or other building.; Such an attic used as an atelier. countable, uncountable
"an artist's loft"
- 7 floor consisting of a large unpartitioned space over a factory or warehouse or other commercial space wordnet
- 8 The thickness of a soft object when not under pressure. countable, uncountable
"maximum loft"
- 9 (golf) the backward slant on the head of some golf clubs that is designed to drive the ball high in the air wordnet
- 10 A gallery or raised apartment in a church, hall, etc. countable, uncountable
"a choir loft"
- 11 A residential flat (apartment) on an upper floor of an apartment building. US, countable, uncountable
"a Manhattan loft"
- 12 Ellipsis of pigeon loft. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
"Releasing some of the 12,000 racing pigeons that had arrived by special train (in foreground) at Dumfries Station for a race to their home lofts in Lanarkshire and West Lothian"
- 13 The pitch or slope of the face of a golf club (tending to drive the ball upward). countable, uncountable
- 14 A lofted drive. countable, uncountable
- 15 A floor or room placed above another. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"Eutychus […] fell down from the third loft."
Verb
- 1 To propel high into the air. transitive
"Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal."
- 2 lay out a full-scale working drawing of the lines of a vessel's hull wordnet
- 3 To fly or travel through the air, as though propelled intransitive
"When she saw houses lofting past her window, she ran to the child, who slept on a feather bed and she gathered the coverlet around them both."
- 4 propel through the air wordnet
- 5 To throw the ball erroneously through the air instead of releasing it on the lane's surface.
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 kick or strike high in the air wordnet
- 7 To furnish with a loft space. transitive
"Two sisters, one under fifteen years of age, have lofted the house, so as to have a room for themselves."
- 8 store in a loft wordnet
- 9 To raise (a bed) on tall supports so that the space beneath can be used for something else. transitive
"Lofting a bed is much harder work than it seems, and pulling a nail out with the back of a hammer is much simpler than using your own nails."
Adjective
- 1 Lofty; proud; haughty. obsolete, rare
"A heart, where dread was never so imprest To hide the thought that might the truth advance; In neither fortune loft, nor yet represt"
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
"When I look for something in our loft, I never come back empty-handed, but not with the thing I had hoped to find."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "loft"?
Common synonyms include: attic, garret, aerie, agency, atelier, attic.
How do you use "loft" in a sentence?
When I look for something in our loft, I never come back empty-handed, but not with the thing I had hoped to find.
How do you pronounce "loft"?
Pronounced /lɒft/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English lofte (“air, sky, upper region, loft”), from Old English loft, (doublet of native Old English lyft) of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse lopt (“upper chamber, attic, region of sky, air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“air, sky”). Akin to Scots lift (“air; sky; firmament”), Dutch lucht (“air”), German Luft (“air”), Old English lyft (“air”). Doublet of lift and luft. Related to aloft. Cognate with Scots loft, laft (“loft”), Irish lochta (“loft”).
Etymology 2
Two main origins: * From Middle English lofte (“loft, attic”), possibly a surname given to a household servant who worked in an upper chamber; see the noun loft. * Borrowed from Danish Loft, a habitational surname.