lost
♦ lost /l'ɒst, AM l'ɔːst/
1
Lost is the past tense and past participle of lose.
2 [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
If you are lost or if you get lost, you do not know where you are or are unable to find your way.
Barely had I set foot in the street when I realised I was lost...
I took a wrong turn and we got lost in the mountains.
3 [ADJ]
If something is lost, or gets lost, you cannot find it, for example because you have forgotten where you put it.
...a lost book...
My paper got lost...
He was scrabbling for his pen, which had got lost somewhere under the sheets of paper.
4 [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
If you feel lost, you feel very uncomfortable because you are in an unfamiliar situation.
Of the funeral he remembered only the cold, the waiting, and feeling very lost...
I feel lost and lonely in a strange town alone.
5 [ADJ]
If you describe a person or group of people as lost, you think that they do not have a clear idea of what they want to do or achieve.
They are a lost generation in search of an identity.
6 [ADJ]
If you describe something as lost, you mean that you no longer have it or it no longer exists.
...a lost job or promotion...
The sense of community is lost...
The riots will also mean lost income for Los Angeles County.
7 [ADJ] ADJ n
You use lost to refer to a period or state of affairs that existed in the past and no longer exists.
He seemed to pine for his lost youth...
...the relics of a lost civilisation.
8 [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
If something is lost, it is not used properly and is considered wasted.
Fox is not bitter about the lost opportunity to compete in the Games...
The advantage is lost.
9 [PHRASE] V inflects, PHR n
If advice or a comment is lost on someone, they do not understand it or they pay no attention to it.
The meaning of that was lost on me...lost and found
1 [N-SING]
Lost and found is the place where lost property is kept. (AM; in BRIT, use lost property)
2 [ADJ]
Lost and found things are things which someone has lost and which someone else has found.
...the shelf where they stored lost-and-found articles.
...the local paper's lost-and-found column.lost cause (lost causes)
[N-COUNT]
If you refer to something or someone as a lost cause, you mean that people's attempts to change or influence them have no chance of succeeding.
They do not want to expend energy in what, to them, is a lost cause.lost prop|er|ty
1 [N-UNCOUNT]
Lost property consists of things that people have lost or accidentally left in a public place, for example on a train or in a school.
Lost property should be handed to the driver.
2 [N-UNCOUNT]
Lost property is a place where lost property is kept. (BRIT; in AM, use lost and found)
I was enquiring in Lost Property at Derby.lost soul (lost souls)
[N-COUNT]
If you call someone a lost soul, you mean that they seem unhappy, and unable to fit in with any particular group of people in society.
They just clung to each other like two lost souls.
1
Lost is the past tense and past participle of lose.
2 [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
If you are lost or if you get lost, you do not know where you are or are unable to find your way.
Barely had I set foot in the street when I realised I was lost...
I took a wrong turn and we got lost in the mountains.
3 [ADJ]
If something is lost, or gets lost, you cannot find it, for example because you have forgotten where you put it.
...a lost book...
My paper got lost...
He was scrabbling for his pen, which had got lost somewhere under the sheets of paper.
4 [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
If you feel lost, you feel very uncomfortable because you are in an unfamiliar situation.
Of the funeral he remembered only the cold, the waiting, and feeling very lost...
I feel lost and lonely in a strange town alone.
5 [ADJ]
If you describe a person or group of people as lost, you think that they do not have a clear idea of what they want to do or achieve.
They are a lost generation in search of an identity.
6 [ADJ]
If you describe something as lost, you mean that you no longer have it or it no longer exists.
...a lost job or promotion...
The sense of community is lost...
The riots will also mean lost income for Los Angeles County.
7 [ADJ] ADJ n
You use lost to refer to a period or state of affairs that existed in the past and no longer exists.
He seemed to pine for his lost youth...
...the relics of a lost civilisation.
8 [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
If something is lost, it is not used properly and is considered wasted.
Fox is not bitter about the lost opportunity to compete in the Games...
The advantage is lost.
9 [PHRASE] V inflects, PHR n
If advice or a comment is lost on someone, they do not understand it or they pay no attention to it.
The meaning of that was lost on me...lost and found
1 [N-SING]
Lost and found is the place where lost property is kept. (AM; in BRIT, use lost property)
2 [ADJ]
Lost and found things are things which someone has lost and which someone else has found.
...the shelf where they stored lost-and-found articles.
...the local paper's lost-and-found column.lost cause (lost causes)
[N-COUNT]
If you refer to something or someone as a lost cause, you mean that people's attempts to change or influence them have no chance of succeeding.
They do not want to expend energy in what, to them, is a lost cause.lost prop|er|ty
1 [N-UNCOUNT]
Lost property consists of things that people have lost or accidentally left in a public place, for example on a train or in a school.
Lost property should be handed to the driver.
2 [N-UNCOUNT]
Lost property is a place where lost property is kept. (BRIT; in AM, use lost and found)
I was enquiring in Lost Property at Derby.lost soul (lost souls)
[N-COUNT]
If you call someone a lost soul, you mean that they seem unhappy, and unable to fit in with any particular group of people in society.
They just clung to each other like two lost souls.