lose the thread

Idioms  

1. Cease to follow the sense of what is said. For example, It was such a long story that I soon lost the thread. This expression uses thread in the sense of “something that connects the various points of a narrative.” [Mid-1900s]

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Example Sentences

The reporters by then were beginning to lose the thread.

From Washington Post • Jan. 6, 2023

The problem is if they dump the puck, lose a battle or lose the thread of the play, as they often have, the offense doesn’t create much.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 7, 2022

Whenever he tried to read anything substantial, Carr wrote, “I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. … The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.”

From Slate • Aug. 16, 2018

If that happens because you as the writer lose the thread of the story then that may be a problem.

From Salon • Feb. 20, 2013

In two hundred years it is, as we have found, easy to lose the thread.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Related Words

• babble
• digress
• meander
• wander