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lost

[lawst, lost]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

no longer possessed or retained: lost friends.

no longer to be found: lost articles.

having gone astray or missed the way; bewildered as to place, direction, etc.: lost children.

not used to good purpose, as opportunities, time, or labor; wasted: a lost advantage.

being something that someone has failed to win: a lost prize.

EXPAND

ending in or attended with defeat: a lost battle.

destroyed or ruined: lost ships.

preoccupied; rapt: He seems lost in thought.

distracted; distraught; desperate; hopeless: the lost look of a man trapped and afraid.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

10.

simple past tense and past participle of lose.

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Lost is always a great word to know.

So is brown-nose. Does it mean:

to seek favors from a person in an obsequious manner, to fawn over

not working, completely messed up, bungled, confused

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Idioms

11.

get lost, Slang.

to absent oneself: I think I'll get lost before an argument starts.

to stop being a nuisance: If they call again, tell them to get lost.

12.

lost to,

no longer belonging to.

no longer possible or open to: The opportunity was lost to him.

insensible to: lost to all sense of duty.

Related forms

un·lost, adjective

Synonyms
1. forfeited, gone, missing. 3. confused, perplexed. 4. squandered.

Antonyms
1. found.

Example Sentences

Many baseball fans can tell aching tales about valuable baseball cards they have owned and lost.

Liquid water had to have energy put into it to become steam, and that energy is not lost.

Also steer clear of lightweight or shriveled bulbs, since these may have lost too much moisture to recover well.

EXPAND

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to come to be without (something in one's possession or care), through accident, theft, etc., so that there is little or no prospect of recovery: I'm sure I've merely misplaced my hat, not lost it.

to fail inadvertently to retain (something) in such a way that it cannot be immediately recovered: I just lost a dime under this sofa.

to suffer the deprivation of: to lose one's job; to lose one's life.

to be bereaved of by death: to lose a sister.

to fail to keep, preserve, or maintain: to lose one's balance; to lose one's figure.

EXPAND

(of a clock or watch) to run slower by: The watch loses three minutes a day.

to give up; forfeit the possession of: to lose a fortune at the gaming table.

to get rid of: to lose one's fear of the dark; to lose weight.

to bring to destruction or ruin (usually used passively): Ship and crew were lost.

10.

to condemn to hell; damn.

11.

to have slip from sight, hearing, attention, etc.: to lose him in the crowd.

12.

to stray from or become ignorant of (one's way, directions, etc.): to lose one's bearings.

13.

to leave far behind in a pursuit, race, etc.; outstrip: She managed to lose the other runners on the final lap of the race.

14.

to use to no purpose; waste: to lose time in waiting.

15.

to fail to have, get, catch, etc.; miss: to lose a bargain.

16.

to fail to win (a prize, stake, etc.): to lose a bet.

17.

to be defeated in (a game, lawsuit, battle, etc.): He has lost very few cases in his career as a lawyer.

18.

to cause the loss of: The delay lost the battle for them.

19.

to let (oneself) go astray, miss the way, etc.: We lost ourselves in the woods.

20.

to allow (oneself) to become absorbed or engrossed in something and oblivious to all else: I had lost myself in thought.

21.

(of a physician) to fail to preserve the life of (a patient).

22.

(of a woman) to fail to be delivered of (a live baby) because of miscarriage, complications in childbirth, etc.

COLLAPSE

verb (used without object)

23.

to suffer loss: to lose on a contract.

24.

to suffer defeat or fail to win, as in a contest, race, or game: We played well, but we lost.

25.

to depreciate in effectiveness or in some other essential quality: a classic that loses in translation.

26.

(of a clock, watch, etc.) to run slow.

Verb phrase

27.

lose out, to suffer defeat or loss; fail to obtain something desired: He got through the preliminaries, but lost out in the finals.

Idiom

28.

lose face. face (def. 48).

Origin:
before 900; Middle English losen, Old English -lēosan; replacing Middle English lesen, itself also reflecting Old English -lēosan; cognate with German verlieren, Gothic fraliusan to lose. See loss

Related forms

re·lose, verb (used with object), re·lost, re·los·ing.

Can be confused: loose, loosen, lose, loss.

Link To Lost

Collins

World English Dictionary

lost (lɒst)

—*adj*
1.	unable to be found or recovered
2.	unable to find one's way or ascertain one's whereabouts
3.	confused, bewildered, or helpless: he is lost in discussions of theory
4.	(sometimes foll by on) not utilized, noticed, or taken advantage of (by): rational arguments are lost on her
5.	no longer possessed or existing because of defeat, misfortune, or the passage of time: a lost art
6.	destroyed physically: the lost platoon
7.	(foll by to) no longer available or open (to)
8.	(foll by to) insensible or impervious (to a sense of shame, justice, etc)
9.	(foll by in) engrossed (in): he was lost in his book
10.	morally fallen: a lost woman
11.	damned: a lost soul
12.	informal (usually imperative) get lost go away and stay away

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

lose

O.E. losian "be lost, perish," from los "destruction, loss," from P.Gmc. *lausa (cf. O.N. los "the breaking up of an army"), from PIE base *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart, untie, separate" (cf. Skt. lunati "cuts, cuts off," lavitram "sickle;" Gk. lyein "to loosen, untie, slacken," lysus "a loosening;"

EXPAND

L. luere "to loose, release, atone for"). Replaced related leosan (a class II strong verb whose pp. loren survives in forlorn and love-lorn), from P.Gmc. *leusanan (cf. O.H.G. virliosan, Ger. verlieren, O.Fris. urliasa, Goth. fraliusan "to lose"). Transitive sense of "to part with accidentally" is from c.1200. Meaning "to be defeated" (in a game, etc.) is from 1530s. To lose (one's) mind "become insane" is attested from c.1500. To lose out "fail" is 1858, Amer.Eng.

lost

"defeated" (c.1300), "wasted, spent in vain," c.1500; also "no longer to be found" (1526), from the pp. of lose (q.v.). Lost Cause in ref. to the Southern U.S. bid for independence is from the title of E.A. Pollard's history of the CSA and the rebellion (1866). Lost Generation

in ref. to the period 1914-18 first attested 1926 in Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises," where he credits it to Gertrude Stein.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

lost

In addition to the idioms beginning with lost, also see get lost; he who hesitates is lost; make up for lost time; no love lost; you've lost me. Also see lose.