lose the plot
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.46 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To lose sight of an important objective or principle; to act contrarily to one's own interests through concentrating on relatively unimportant matters.
British usage; Colloquial
verb
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lose, plot.
Example Sentences
- "I lost the plot for a while then. And I lost the subplot, the script, the soundtrack, the intermission, my popcorn, the credits and the exit sign."
- "Right then I lost the plot. I did, man, I went over the edge."
- "Finally, I lost the plot. I got into my car and drove to the police station."
- "Apologise for losing the plot and explain what made you react the way you did."
- "But while there remains a considerable degree of consensus that the consequence of apparently losing the plot sometime between 1914 and 1918 was the cultural and economic malaise of the 1920s and 1930s, there are still some who look back on the interwar years less with criticism than with nostalgia."
- "Because of this it seems to me that we have somehow lost the plot and we're in desperate need of balance. The idea of Protestant ministers touching the body of Christ (the bread) with great love and tenderness like the priest described is almost incomprehensible."
Usage
- British usage
- Colloquial