English Dictionary

AT A LOSS

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does at a loss mean? 

AT A LOSS (adjective)
  The adjective AT A LOSS has 1 sense:

1. filled with bewildermentplay

  Familiarity information: AT A LOSS used as an adjective is very rare.


AT A LOSS (adverb)
  The adverb AT A LOSS has 1 sense:

1. below costplay

  Familiarity information: AT A LOSS used as an adverb is very rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


AT A LOSS (adjective)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Filled with bewilderment

Synonyms:

at a loss; nonplused; nonplussed; puzzled

Context example:

puzzled that she left without saying goodbye

Similar:

perplexed (full of difficulty or confusion or bewilderment)


AT A LOSS (adverb)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Below cost

Context example:

sold the car at a loss


 Context examples 


"I hope I may always have the title of a friend. And let me say that I am at a loss for words to thank you for your goodness to my poor dear."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

We have had a very painful incident at St. Luke’s, and really, but for the happy chance of your being in town, I should have been at a loss what to do.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was equally at a loss to express my emotions.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But this interjection appeared to him so absurd that he was at a loss how to deal with it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Wood seemed at a loss.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And yet I was at a loss to know why.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But, if what I told him were true, he was still at a loss how a kingdom could run out of its estate, like a private person.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I have—I have received a letter; and I am at a loss whether I should show it to the police.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“I am at a loss to know, sir,” he said, “what you can have to speak about which affects me personally in a very intimate fashion.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They had wandered a long way; and when they looked to see which way they should go home, they found themselves at a loss to know what path to take.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow ." (English proverb)

"The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives." (Native American proverb, Sioux)

"The carpenter's door is loose." (Arabic proverb)

"Empty barrels make more noise." (Danish proverb)



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