Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - lost

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Lost is the past tense and past participle of lose. 2. If you are lost or if you get lost, you do not know where you are or are unable to find your way. Barely had I set foot in the street when I realised I was lost... I took a wrong turn and we got lost in the mountains. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ 3. If something is lost, or gets lost, you cannot find it, for example because you have forgotten where you put it. ...a lost book... My paper got lost... He was scrabbling for his pen, which had got lost somewhere under the sheets of paper. ADJ 4. If you feel lost, you feel very uncomfortable because you are in an unfamiliar situation. Of the funeral he remembered only the cold, the waiting, and feeling very lost... I feel lost and lonely in a strange town alone. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ 5. If you describe a person or group of people as lost, you think that they do not have a clear idea of what they want to do or achieve. They are a lost generation in search of an identity. ADJ 6. If you describe something as lost, you mean that you no longer have it or it no longer exists. ...a lost job or promotion... The sense of community is lost... The riots will also mean lost income for Los Angeles County. ADJ 7. You use lost to refer to a period or state of affairs that existed in the past and no longer exists. He seemed to pine for his lost youth... ...the relics of a lost civilisation. ADJ: ADJ n 8. If something is lost, it is not used properly and is considered wasted. Fox is not bitter about the lost opportunity to compete in the Games... The advantage is lost. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ 9. If advice or a comment is lost on someone, they do not understand it or they pay no attention to it. The meaning of that was lost on me... PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n