Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

lost

2 adjective
     
lost2 S2 W3
1

cannot find your way

if you are lost, you do not know where you are and are unable to find your way somewhere:
'Are you lost?' the driver asked.
I got thoroughly lost on the way here.
a lost child
2

cannot be found

if something is lost, you had it but cannot now find now [= missing]:
two boys searching for a lost ball
The letter never arrived. It must have got lost in the post.
3

wasted

a) lost time or opportunities have not been used in the way that would have given you the greatest advantage:
It'll be impossible to make up the lost time.
They didn't change the voting system when they had the chance and now the opportunity has been lost.
b)

lost sales/business/earnings etc

sales, business etc that you could have had but did not:
The strike has cost the company £2 million in lost revenue.
4

feel/be lost

to not feel confident about what to do or how to behave:
It's not unusual to feel rather lost when you first start college.
She's a great friend and I'd be lost without her.
5

Get lost!

spoken used to rudely tell someone to go away or to stop annoying you
6

not noticing

[not before noun] thinking so hard about something, or being so interested in something, that you do not notice what is happening around you
lost in
Harry just stood there, lost in thought.
Amy lay on her bed, totally lost in her book.
7

get lost (in something)

to be forgotten or not noticed in a complicated process or in a busy time:
It's easy for your main points to get lost in a long speech.
8

not understand

be lost

to be completely confused by a complicated explanation:
'Do you understand what I mean?' 'Not really. I'm a bit lost.'
9

be lost on somebody

if something is lost on someone, they do not understand or want to accept it:
The joke was completely lost on Chris.
10

be lost for words

to be unable to say anything because you are very surprised, upset etc:
For once in her life, she was lost for words.
11

not existing

[only before noun] that no longer exists or that you no longer have:
the relics of a lost civilization
She wept for her broken dreams and lost youth.
12

lost cause

something that has no chance of succeeding:
Trying to interest my son in classical music is a lost cause.
13

lost soul

someone who does not seem to know where they are or what to do - often used humorously

➔ give somebody up for dead/lost etc

at give up (7) ➔ long-lost

➔ make up for lost time

at make up for (4)

➔ there is no love lost between somebody and somebody

at love2 (10)
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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