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lost

lost

7 5.3
With no hope of being saved or helped
  • adjective
  • /lɔst/
translation icon : perdido
  • Lost hope.
  • a lost city

And somebody told me, hey, the Lord ain't lost, you know, True that, true that, brother.

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Examples

  • Lost souls who met a violent end.

  • Lost and alone, Sarah feels all hope recede for herself and for humanity.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Here's to the damned, to the lost and forgotten.

    Blog text (15)
  • Lost souls are obsessed by something that disconnects them from life.

  • She knew immediately something was different, but that if my self esteem was lost I'd be doomed.

  • After the ship sank, the passengers felt as if they were lost at sea, with no hope of rescue.

  • Despite their efforts, the efforts of the rescue team seemed lost as night fell and the storm worsened.

  • In the chaos of the city, he felt utterly lost, unable to find his way home.

Synonyms

gone
vslost
5.5

No longer alive

is a state of being beyond hope, spiritually or physically doomed
hopeless
vslost
48 2.5

Feeling no hope about a situation or the future

describes an actual doomed condition rather than only an emotional state
done for
vslost
  • Informal
30 7.7

Very likely to fail or die and cannot be saved

is the general state of being beyond help or hope
left for dead
vslost
  • Informal
15 8.3

Abandoned without help in a very dangerous situation

is the general doomed condition without implying abandonment or rescue status
unsaved
vslost
2 9.1

A person who does not accept religious forgiveness and may face punishment after death

is broader, applying to doom in spiritual or physical ways
sunk
vslost
7.5

Certain to fail and unable to recover

covers both permanent spiritual and physical doom rather than only failure

Antonyms

46 1.0

Showing signs that a plan or project will be successful

saved
  • Formal
5.1

People who believe they are rescued from sin and its punishment

redeemed
  • Formal
7.5

Saved from sin by forgiveness when you believe

Idioms

42 7.4

Not understood or appreciated by someone

Thinking so much that you do not notice what is around you

5 7.5

Missed when people are busy or things are disorganized

no love lost
  • Informal
3 8.3

A strong dislike between two people or groups

Hard to notice among many people or things

To look pleased but not fully happy after a small gain that follows a disappointment

lost and at sea
  • Informal
7.8

Not sure what to do or where to go

lost in action
  • Specialized
7.9

Missing during a battle with nobody knowing what happened to them

lost in Timbuktu
  • Informal
9.9

Hard to find because it is in a faraway or unknown place

Compounds

39 4.9

Something that has no chance of success

A place in a public area where lost items are kept for people to get back

lost wages
  • Specialized
6 4.8

Money a person does not earn because they cannot work

A chance to succeed that you missed

Valuable things like money or jewels that were hidden long ago

A record showing how many games a team or player wins and loses in a season

1 5.5

A failed attempt to beat an illness or other serious problem

Ten tribes of ancient Israel taken away long ago whose fate remains unknown

How Hopeless

doomed
7 4.9
lost
7 5.3

Surface Forms

lost positive

Morphology

lost = lose (semi-transparent) = lose + t

The form comes from the past-participle of 'lose', but the metaphorical sense 'without hope' represents a semantic extension that is not fully predictable from the base verb for all learners.

Etymology

Lost comes from the old English verb lēosan, the root of our word lose, which meant 'to be without' or 'gone'. Long ago it also meant 'ruined' or 'perished', so someone or something lost is seen as beyond help or hope.