the generation of men and women who came of age during or immediately following World War I: viewed, as a result of their war experiences and the social upheaval of the time, as cynical, disillusioned, and without cultural or emotional stability.
a group of American writers of this generation, including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and John Dos Passos.
the large number of talented young men killed in World War I
the generation of writers, esp American authors such as Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway, active after World War I
The characters in the book The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, are examples of the lost generation.
First recorded in 1925–30
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Appeared in the May 29, 2026, print edition as 'Britain’s Lost Generation of Workers'.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
That stagnation eventually persisted so long that some began to refer to it as the "Lost Generation."
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2023
"As a kid, I wanted to be part of the Lost Generation who came to France. Hang out at the Coupole with Picasso and Giacometti," he told the paper.
From Reuters ● Sep. 12, 2022
There is France, where he mingled with John Dos Passos, Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald as a charter member of the Lost Generation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2019
Not all Lost Generation writers were like Fitzgerald or Hemingway.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
"We are at risk of a lost generation," he warned, with the number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work, education or training set to rise to 1.25 million by 2031.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
The study cautions that Gaza faces a serious risk of a "lost" generation due to the combined educational, physical, and psychological toll of the war.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 11, 2026
We sit on a bench and let it wash over us, wondering what ghosts of the lost generation would make of this, our Spain.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
"If we don't start a real transition for all children in February, we will enter a fourth year. And then we can talk about a lost generation."
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2025
Once I knew the City very well, spent my attic days there, while others were being a lost generation in Paris.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
