lost
/lɒst/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/lɔst/
lost is the simple past and past participle of lose.
Adjective
lost (comparative loster or more lost, superlative lostest or most lost)
- Having wandered from, or unable to find, the way.
- The children were soon lost in the forest.
- In an unknown location; unable to be found.
- Deep beneath the ocean, the Titanic was lost to the world.
- Not perceptible to the senses; no longer visible.
- an island lost in a fog; a person lost in a crowd
- Parted with; no longer held or possessed.
- a lost limb; lost honour
- Not employed or enjoyed; thrown away; employed ineffectually; wasted; squandered.
- a lost day; a lost opportunity or benefit; no time should be lost
- Ruined or destroyed, either physically or morally; past help or hope.
- a ship lost at sea; a woman lost to virtue; a lost soul
- They struck me also as being of surpassing interest as representing, probably with studious accuracy, the last rites of the dead as practised among an utterly lost people, and even then I thought how envious some antiquarian friends of my own at Cambridge would be if ever I found an opportunity of...1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
- Hardened beyond sensibility or recovery; alienated; insensible.
- lost to shame; lost to all sense of honour
- Occupied with, or under the influence of, something, so as not to notice external things.
- to be lost in thought
Meaning of lose
Verb
lose (third-person singular simple present loses, present participle losing, simple past and past participle lost)
- To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
- If you lose that ten-pound note, you'll be sorry.
- To have (an organ) removed from one's body, especially by accident.
- Johnny lost a tooth, but kept it for the tooth fairy.
- To shed (weight).
- I’ve lost five pounds this week.
- To experience the death of (someone to whom one has an attachment, such as a relative or friend).
- She lost all her sons in the war.
- To pay or owe (some wager) due from an unsuccessful bet or gamble.
- Frank had lost $500 staying in Vegas.
- To be deprived of (some right or privileged access to something).
- Users who engage in disruptive behavior may lose their accounts.
Forms of lost
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | los' |
| alternative form | loss |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | loster |
| comparative | more lost |
| superlative | lostest |
| superlative | most lost |
Origin of lost
From Middle English loste, losede (preterite) and Middle English lost, ilost, ilosed (past participle), from Old English losode (preterite) and Old English losod, ġelosod, equivalent to lose + -t.
Words formed from lost
- I lost my backpack
- I lost my bag
- I lost my glasses
- I lost my handbag
- I lost my keys
- I lost my wallet
- I've lost my keys
- long-lost
- look as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
- look as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence
- no love lost
- all is not lost
- be lost to the four winds
- get lost
- he who hesitates is lost
- I'm lost
- long lost
- lost and found
- lost articles
- Lostaway
- lost cause
- Lost Creek
- Lost Dakota
- lost decade
- lost errand
- lost for words
- lost generation
- lost ground
- lost highway
- lost in action
- lost in the sauce
- lost in the shuffle
- lost in thought
- lost in time
- lost in translation
- lostling
- lost media
- lost motion
- lostness
- lost neutral
- lost on
- lost property
- lost river
- lost shark
- lost sheep
- lost soul
- lost to history
- lost to the world
- lost to time
- lost wages
- lost wax
- lost-wax casting
- lost-wax process
- lost weekend
- lost with all hands
- lost world
- make up for lost time
- one who hesitates is lost
- Ten Lost Tribes
- unlost
Phrases with lost
- lost it
- got lost
- lost out
- gets lost
- Lost City
- lost face
- lost time
- lost caste
- lost count
- Lost Forty
- lost heart
- Lost Hills
68 more phrasesFewer phrases
- lost souls
- lost touch
- lost track
- gotten lost
- lost causes
- Lost Colony
- lost medias
- lost rivers
- lost sharks
- getting lost
- lost control
- lost decades
- lost errands
- lost no time
- lost oneself
- lost neutrals
- lost patience
- lost sight of
- lost the bell
- lost the fang
- lost the plot
- lost weekends
- lost one's rag
- long, long lost
- lost and founds
- lost one's cool
- lost one's head
- lost one's life
- lost one's mind
- lost one's shit
- lost one's wits
- lost properties
- lost the bubble
- lost the thread
- lost one's heart
- lost one's nerve
- lost one's shirt
- lost one's touch
- Lost River Range
- lost one's battle
- lost one's bottle
- lost one's temper
- lost one's tongue
- Lost River sucker
- lost one's balance
- lost one's cookies
- lost one's marbles
- lost one's bearings
- lost one's virginity
- made up for lost time
- lost the dressing room
- makes up for lost time
- Poland Is Not Yet Lost
- lost the run of oneself
- making up for lost time
- is lost to the four winds
- was lost to the four winds
- been lost to the four winds
- being lost to the four winds
- and nothing of value was lost
- lost the number of one's mess
- lost the battle, but won the war
- won the battle, but lost the war
- looks as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
- looks as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence
- looked as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
- looking as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
- looking as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence
Questions about lost
- What does lost mean?
- Lost means having wandered from, or unable to find, the way.
- What is lost the simple past and past participle of?
- Lost is the simple past and past participle of lose.
- What part of speech is lost?
- Lost is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce lost?
- Lost is pronounced /lɒst/ (UK).
Words near lost in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lost (page history and authors); lose (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-ca-lost.ogg, En-uk-lost.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lost.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lost. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.