lost in Timbuktu
- idiom
- Informal
:
perdido en Timbuctú
- After hours of searching, she felt as if her keys were lost in Timbuktu.
Examples
-
He said that my letter must have gotten lost in Timbuktu because it never arrived.
-
Whenever my files go missing on my computer, it's like they're lost in Timbuktu.
-
I feel lost in Timbuktu without my friends!
-
She seems lost in Timbuktu during the meeting.
-
After hours of searching, she felt as if her keys were lost in Timbuktu.
-
He said that my letter must have gotten lost in Timbuktu because it never arrived.
-
Whenever my files go missing on my computer, it's like they're lost in Timbuktu.
Synonyms
2
8.8
A made-up perfect place that exists only in dreams
Extremely far away and hard to reach or get
Antonyms
How Remote
- UK
1
9.8
- Informal
- Informal
91
4.6
- UK
7
9.1
241
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The construction 'lost in X' is compositionally transparent so a learner who knows 'lost' and 'in' can infer being lost in a place; however the figurative force depends on recognizing Timbuktu as a conventional metaphor for a very remote or obscure location. That cultural/lexical knowledge is not guaranteed at B1 and the meaning is therefore only partially predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Lost in Timbuktu comes from the real city Timbuktu, which people long ago thought was very far away and hard to reach. Saying something was 'lost in Timbuktu' painted the picture of it being gone to a far, almost imaginary place, so today it means 'lost in a very far or unknown place'.