lost cause

noun

1. a cause that has been defeated or whose defeat is inevitable.

lost cause

noun

1. a cause with no chance of success

Word History and Origins

Origin of lost cause¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Idioms and Phrases

A hopeless undertaking, as in Trying to get him to quit smoking is a lost cause . In the 1860s this expression was widely used to describe the Confederacy. [Mid-1800s] Also see losing battle .

Example Sentences

When we honor leaders who fought to preserve a system that enslaved human beings, we are honoring a lost cause that has burdened Virginia for too many years.

From Washington Post

Victor Robles doesn’t have to be a lost cause, nor does the Nats’ frail infrastructure.

From Washington Post

I think talking to those communities is sometimes seen as a lost cause and a waste of energy, and Sam didn’t see that.

From Vox

The sooner we recognize that, and stop treating loved ones who have adopted conspiratorial beliefs as lost causes, the better we may be at curbing the beliefs that threaten our democracy and public health.

From FiveThirtyEight

There’s a lot of technical jargon involved, and being mindful of the source can be a lost cause, because there’s virtually no sustainable leather production in the US, Corry says.

From Popular-Science

A gorgeous, glistening rendition of “Lost Cause” came next, and the airy Morning Phase standout “Blue Moon” ended the sequence.

From The Daily Beast

Or as Sen. Lee posited, “Many of you may have been told that this is a lost cause.”

From The Daily Beast

Some see all significance in the grim front of the destroyer, and some in the bitter sufferers of the Lost Cause.

From The Daily Beast

They dress nearly identical to the students I teach in New York, watch the same media, and see politics at home as a lost cause.

From The Daily Beast

Because we gave it our stamp of approval, it will be considered ours—even though we knew it was a lost cause.

From The Daily Beast

It would be easier for me to give up the fight for Ireland, to desert the beaten side, to forget the lost cause.'

From Project Gutenberg

It takes great courage to fight a lost cause when there is no hope even of victory.

From Project Gutenberg

Their resting place is marked by an imposing marble shaft, in honor of the comrades of "the lost cause," "wherever they lie."

From Project Gutenberg

A second time they came here, and then they were in full retreat, heralds of a finally lost cause.

From Project Gutenberg

It was not a meeting of the adherents of a lost cause, but of one which had suffered only temporary defeat.

From Project Gutenberg