Meaning & use
lost
Last updated
Meanings
adjectiveafter a verb
Not knowing where you are or how to get where you want to go.
Grammar: After a verb: get lost, feel lost.
Patterns
- get lost
- be lost in somewhere
We got lost in the old part of town.
The lost child was found at the station.
I felt lost on my first day.
adjectivebefore a noun
Missing and impossible to find or no longer owned.
Grammar: Before a noun: a lost key.
Patterns
- lost property
- lost and found
I'm looking for my lost keys.
The lost luggage arrived the next day.
Check the lost and found.
adjectivebefore a nounfigurative
Wasted or past, no longer possible to get back.
Grammar: Often figurative.
Patterns
- lost opportunity
- lost time
He regretted the lost years.
A lost opportunity.
verbtransitive or intransitive
Past tense and past participle of lose: failed to win or keep.
Grammar: Form of lose.
Patterns
- lost something
She lost her phone.
They lost the match.
Word forms
| comparative | more lost |
|---|
Common combinations
- get lost
- We got lost.
- feel lost
- He felt lost without her.
- lost in thought
- She was lost in thought.
- lost cause
- A lost cause.
- lost and found
- Ask at the lost and found.
Synonyms and how they differ
- missing
- Stresses that it can't be found.
- misplaced
- Implies put somewhere forgotten.
- disoriented
- More formal, confused.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: lost or loose?
lost vs loose
Loose means not tight; lost means missing.
Practice
We were ___ in the maze and could not find the exit.
Choose one answer.
Lost means unable to find the way. Loose is not tight.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “lost”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.