Word.ws English Dictionary

lost in the shuffle

lost in the shuffle phrase: failing to stand out or receive attention as a result of a larger-scale change or transformation.

Phrase

lost in the shuffle

  1. (idiomatic, informal) Failing to stand out or receive attention as a result of a larger-scale change or transformation.
    • We have allowed ourselves to be "lost in the shuffle" of American priorities in the '70s, but we should never lose sight of ourselves and our goals as our priorities.1975 July, Gil Scott-Heron, “Lost in the Shuffle”, in Ebony, volume 30, number 9, Johnson Publishing Company, page 28
    • We get lost in the shuffle, and in the end we don't even know that we have needs - much less know what these needs might be.1987, Robert Subby, Lost in the shuffle: the co-dependent reality, HCI, page 39

Examples of lost in the shuffle in a sentence

  • The Board makes a very clear mandate and then whatever the executive director and senior staff feel should happen is what actually happens...and the Board action gets lost in the shuffle.1988 December 4, Judy Haris, Laurie Livingston, “Going Public”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 21, page 9:
  • In the occasional highly publicized case, then, the best interests of the child may be lost in the shuffle.1992, Michael G. Kalogerakis, Handbook of psychiatric practice in the juvenile court: the Workgroup on Psychiatric Practice in the Juvenile...

Questions about lost in the shuffle

What does lost in the shuffle mean?
Lost in the shuffle means failing to stand out or receive attention as a result of a larger-scale change or transformation.
How do you use lost in the shuffle in a sentence?
The Board makes a very clear mandate and then whatever the executive director and senior staff feel should happen is what actually happens...and the Board action gets lost in the shuffle.
What part of speech is lost in the shuffle?
Lost in the shuffle is a phrase.

Words near lost in the shuffle in the dictionary

  1. lost heart
  2. lost highway
  3. Lost Hills
  4. lost in action
  5. lost in the sauce
  6. lost in the shuffle
  7. lost in thought
  8. lost in time
  9. lost in translation
  10. lost it
  11. lost media

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lost in the shuffle (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.

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Cite this entry: “lost in the shuffle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lost_in_the_shuffle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.