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ただの殺され損ではないか

I'm stumbled on this meaning here. By context I can gather it seems to be akin as "Being killed is just a disadvantage, isn't it?" but why 殺され損?

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  • To be clear, the masu-stem (I usually say i-stem, even though that only makes sense for godan verbs) of a verb should be thought of as more noun-like - comparable to a gerund or a participle in English, either of which is the result of adding the "-ing" suffix. され results from attaching the modal させる and then taking its masu-stem. So really this isn't verb + 損; it's a noun compound. Commented Sep 17, 2023 at 3:22

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Verb (+「(さ)せる」「(ら)れる」 ) in masu-form + 損 generally forms a compound noun that means "the situation of doing something and it ending up in vain (or at least by far not effective enough.)" People take it as 損 "loss" because they expect an outcome matching up their effort, time, money or something they put to take the action.

Therefore, in this context, 殺され損 means the situation of the hero being killed and his death ending up in vain (despite the expectation that it would right the police and the world.)

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  • Is there a connotation of the thing being serious -- sometimes life-or-death or could it apply to less-serious situations, like school work, studying not hard enough?
    – releseabe
    Commented Sep 17, 2023 at 21:20
  • This expression itself does not have a connotation of the thing being serious. However, in actual use, not every verb suits in it (and people often use the expression「(verb in 連体形)だけ損/得だ」 more generally). I've never heard 学び損 but it can be used in the situation like "I studied math overnight, but today's exam is not on math but history".
    – rk03
    Commented Sep 17, 2023 at 22:28

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