lost
/lɒst
/verb
past and past participle of lose.
adjective
1Unable to find one’s way; not knowing one’s whereabouts: Help! We’re lost!...
- He got lost searching for the computer room, and when he eventually did call me back, the system had already righted itself.
- Although the team got lost driving up, they were glad they came.
- A fifth member turned up late, saying he got lost sightseeing, but the other four have not been seen.
Synonyms
stray, astray, off-course, off-track, off the right track, disorientated, disoriented, having lost one's bearings, adrift, going round in circles, at sea
1.1Unable to be found: he turned up with my lost golf clubs...
- Behind the sofa is one of the places in a home where all the lost things end up.
- I murmured a prayer to St. Anthony to find a lost paper, looked down, and my hand was on it.
- When he takes the back off to mend it, he finds the lost grand.
Synonyms
missing, strayed, gone missing/astray, mislaid, misplaced, vanished, disappeared, forgotten, nowhere to be found;
absent, not present, gone
1.2 [predicative] Unable to understand or to cope with a situation: she stood there clutching a drink, feeling completely lost I’d be lost without her...
- At the moment though, I just feel rather lost and disorientated myself.
- Knowing these people helps to understand why alcohol is such a boon to the lost and the lonely.
- Tonight, I felt lost beyond anything I have felt the entire time I have been here.
2That has been taken away or cannot be recovered: if only one could recapture one’s lost youth...
- Police are still undertaking further investigations and trying to recover the lost relics.
- Miserably, in trying to recover his lost childhood Jackson is depriving his own kids of theirs.
- Smokers who quit will not recover lost lung function, but the rate of decline may revert to that of a non-smoker.
Synonyms
bygone, past, former, one-time, previous, old, olden, departed, vanished, forgotten, unremembered, unrecalled, consigned to oblivion, extinct, dead, lost and gone, lost in time;
out of date, outmoded;
French passé
2.1(Of time or an opportunity) not used advantageously; wasted: the decision meant a lost opportunity to create 200 jobs...
- I was crying at the overwhelming sense of lost opportunity, and was probably not very good company in the bar afterwards.
- The fact he then learnt in a couple of weeks, but simply won't read books today, is an illustration of lost opportunity.
- Slow and stately movement is compounding the lost opportunities of earlier wasted years.
Synonyms
missed, forfeited, neglected, wasted, squandered, dissipated, gone by the board
informal down the drain
2.2Having died or been destroyed: a memorial to the lost crewmen...
- The shrubbery was symbolic, and one particular tree was planted in memory of the Keller's lost son.
- Every year the bodies of lost soldiers of World War One (1914-1918) are being unearthed.
- Participants will place 29 illuminated lanterns -- one for each of the lost crew members -- around the Fitzgerald's original anchor.
Synonyms
extinct, died out, defunct, vanished, gone, perished;
destroyed, wiped out, ruined, wrecked, crushed, finished, demolished, obliterated, effaced, exterminated, eradicated, annihilated, extirpated
Phrases
all is not lost
be lost for words
be lost on
get lost
give someone up for lost
make up for lost time