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

As in a dream, the reader can lose the thread.

From New York Times • Sep. 7, 2021

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

Related Words

• babble
• digress
• meander
• wander