(~s, losing, lost)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
If you ~ a contest, a fight, or an argument, you do not succeed because someone does better than you and defeats you.
A C Milan lost the Italian Cup Final...
The government lost the argument over the pace of reform...
No one likes to be on the losing side.
VERB: V n, V n, V-ing
2.
If you ~ something, you do not know where it is, for example because you have forgotten where you put it.
I lost my keys...
I had to go back for my checkup; they’d lost my X-rays.
VERB: V n, V n
3.
You say that you ~ something when you no longer have it because it has been taken away from you or destroyed.
I lost my job when the company moved to another state...
She was terrified they’d ~ their home.
VERB: V n, V n
4.
If someone ~s a quality, characteristic, attitude, or belief, they no longer have it.
He lost all sense of reason...
He had lost his desire to live.
VERB: V n, V n
5.
If you ~ an ability, you stop having that ability because of something such as an accident.
They lost their ability to hear...
He had lost the use of his legs.
VERB: V n, V n
6.
If someone or something ~s heat, their temperature becomes lower.
Babies ~ heat much faster than adults...
VERB: V n
7.
If you ~ blood or fluid from your body, it leaves your body so that you have less of it.
During fever a large quantity of fluid is lost in perspiration.
VERB: V n
8.
If you ~ weight, you become less heavy, and usually look thinner.
I have lost a lot of weight...
Martha was able to ~ 25 pounds.
VERB: V n, V n
9.
If you ~ a part of your body, it is cut off in an operation or in an accident.
He lost a foot when he was struck by a train.
VERB: V n
10.
If someone ~s their life, they die.
...the ferry disaster in 1987, in which 192 people lost their lives...
Hundreds of lives were lost in fighting.
VERB: V n, V n
11.
If you ~ a c~ relative or friend, they die.
My Grandma lost her brother in the war.
VERB: V n
12.
If things are lost, they are destroyed in a disaster.
...the famous Nankin pottery that was lost in a shipwreck off the coast of China.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed
13.
If you ~ time, something slows you down so that you do not make as much progress as you hoped.
They claim that police lost valuable time in the early part of the investigation...
Six hours were lost in all.
VERB: V n, V n
14.
If you ~ an opportunity, you do not take advantage of it.
If you don’t do it soon you’re going to ~ the opportunity...
They did not ~ the opportunity to say what they thought of events.
...a lost opportunity.
VERB: V n, V n to-inf, V-ed
15.
If you ~ yourself in something or if you are lost in it, you give a lot of attention to it and do not think about anything else.
Michael held on to her arm, losing himself in the music...
He was lost in the contemplation of the landscape.
= absorb
VERB: V pron-refl in n, be V-ed in n
16.
If a business ~s money, it earns less money than it spends, and is therefore in debt. (BUSINESS)
His shops stand to ~ millions of pounds...
VERB: V n
17.
If something ~s you a contest or ~s you something that you had, it causes you to fail or to no longer have what you had.
My own stupidity lost me the match...
His economic mismanagement has lost him the support of the general public.
VERB: V n n, V n n
18.
see also lost
19.
If someone ~s it, they become extremely angry or upset. (INFORMAL)
I completely lost it. I went mad, berserk.
PHRASE: V inflects
20.
If you ~ your way, you become lost when you are trying to go somewhere.
The men lost their way in a sandstorm.
PHRASE: V inflects
21.
to ~ your balance: see balance
to ~ the battle but win the war: see battle
to ~ contact: see contact
to ~ your cool: see cool
to ~ face: see face
to ~ your grip: see grip
to ~ your head: see head
to ~ heart: see heart
to ~ your mind: see mind
to ~ your nerve: see nerve
to ~ the plot: see plot
to ~ sight of: see sight
to ~ your temper: see temper
to ~ touch: see touch
to ~ track of: see track