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

See Examples For:

lose the thread

This is the moment where so many Thanksgiving tables lose the thread.

From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2025

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

But I felt it would be easy to lose the thread of time if I just talked about the present.

From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2016

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

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

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Related Words

• babble
• digress
• meander
• wander

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