lost cause
45
4.9
- noun
- /lɔst kɔz/
- After trying to fix the aging car for months, he finally admitted it was a lost cause.
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Watch on YouTubeIs there any conceivable reason to go on another date or am IA lost cause yours, Anthony?
- Is there any conceivable reason to go on another date or am IA lost cause yours, Anthony?
- Put him in the school where the the lost causes go.
- It was just so like my, my, my core belief was that I was beyond help, that I was a lost cause.
- So people who just believe authority without question, well, you know, until they stop doing that, they're bit of a lost cause.
- And then he fell back on what I sometimes have called the drug of the lost cause.
Examples
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The committee decided that funding the project was a lost cause due to the lack of support.
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She poured her effort into the startup, but deep down, she knew it was a lost cause.
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Oh, I think I know a lost cause when I see one.
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Sounds like a lost cause.
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We are a lost cause.
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It's a lost cause for these people.
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I think you really have to consider your society a lost cause at that point.
Blog text (18) -
And in 30 years, she only came across four lost causes.
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She always has a soft spot for lost causes.
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Some have suggested that investing resources to save very rare species is a lost cause and that triage is necessary.
Academic text (2012)
Synonyms
710
1.3
Not reaching what was planned or expected
130
3.6
A situation where no further progress or solution is possible
20
5.1
An effort that is not likely to succeed
18
5.5
A failed attempt to beat an illness or other serious problem
18
4.8
A project or organization that is failing and likely to collapse
13
7.2
A task that has no chance of success
4
6.2
A plan that leads nowhere and cannot succeed
1
9.9
A risky attempt that is very unlikely to succeed
1
4.4
An attempt that does not get what you want
Antonyms
How Hopeless
146
2.7
45
4.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'lost' clearly signals irrecoverability and 'cause' can denote an effort or campaign, so the overall meaning 'an effort with no hope of success' is largely derivable from the parts. However, B1 learners may primarily know 'cause' as 'reason' rather than 'a movement/endeavor', so the intended sense is not fully guaranteed without prior exposure.
Etymology
The idiom lost cause uses cause to mean a fight, plan, or belief and lost to show it is defeated; picture a flag on the ground after a battle or a court case already lost. That's why it means 'no hope of success'.