"lose the plot" meaning in English

See lose the plot in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-lose the plot.ogg [Australia] Forms: loses the plot [present, singular, third-person], losing the plot [participle, present], lost the plot [participle, past], lost the plot [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|lose<,,lost> the plot}} lose the plot (third-person singular simple present loses the plot, present participle losing the plot, simple past and past participle lost the plot)
  1. (UK, colloquial) To cease to behave in a consistent and/or rational manner. Tags: UK, colloquial Translations (to cease to behave in a consistent and/or rational manner): perder a linha (Portuguese)
    Sense id: en-lose_the_plot-en-verb-9pNrCg0Q Categories (other): British English, English predicates Disambiguation of English predicates: 37 42 20 Disambiguation of 'to cease to behave in a consistent and/or rational manner': 97 2 1
  2. (UK, colloquial) To lose sight of an important objective or principle; to act contrarily to one's own interests through concentrating on relatively unimportant matters. Tags: UK, colloquial Translations (to lose sight of the objective): menettää otteensa (Finnish), kei Mahurangi (Maori), perder o fio da meada (Portuguese), perder el norte (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-lose_the_plot-en-verb-cE1h--LB Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English predicates, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 32 60 9 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 29 60 11 Disambiguation of English predicates: 37 42 20 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 25 65 11 Disambiguation of 'to lose sight of the objective': 3 78 19
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lose, plot.
    Sense id: en-lose_the_plot-en-verb--25BhSuN Categories (other): English predicates Disambiguation of English predicates: 37 42 20

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for lose the plot meaning in English (5.9kB)

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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "loses the plot",
      "tags": [
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    {
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    {
      "form": "lost the plot",
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        {
          "ref": "2004, Ron Phillips, The Travels of Plymouth: A Fable for Our Time, page 202",
          "text": "Right then I lost the plot. I did, man, I went over the edge.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Caryl Wyatt, Anita Le Roux, Look Me in the Eye: Caryl's Story, page 28",
          "text": "Finally, I lost the plot. I got into my car and drove to the police station.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Jackie Hall, The Happy Mum Handbook, page 102",
          "text": "Apologise for losing the plot and explain what made you react the way you did.",
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        "(UK, colloquial) To cease to behave in a consistent and/or rational manner."
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        {
          "_dis1": "97 2 1",
          "code": "pt",
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          "word": "perder a linha"
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        {
          "ref": "1995, John Frank Williams, The Quarantined Culture: Australian Reactions to Modernism, 1913–1939, page 219",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2007, Colin James Isbister, The Body of Christ, page 99",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2011, House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs, 2nd Report of Session 2010-11: Auditors: Market Concentration and Their Role, Volume II: Evidence, page 19,\n[Professor Fearnley:] If I can perhaps be a little unkind about my profession — which is fair enough I suppose — I think the accountancy profession, along with other professions, loses the plot from time to time and has to be pulled back from what it was doing before."
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        "(UK, colloquial) To lose sight of an important objective or principle; to act contrarily to one's own interests through concentrating on relatively unimportant matters."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "colloquial"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "3 78 19",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to lose sight of the objective",
          "word": "menettää otteensa"
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          "sense": "to lose sight of the objective",
          "word": "kei Mahurangi"
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          "sense": "to lose sight of the objective",
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        }
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          "type": "quotation"
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      "tags": [
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      "form": "loses the plot",
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          "ref": "2007, Caryl Wyatt, Anita Le Roux, Look Me in the Eye: Caryl's Story, page 28",
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          "text": "Apologise for losing the plot and explain what made you react the way you did.",
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        }
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        "(UK, colloquial) To cease to behave in a consistent and/or rational manner."
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          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Colin James Isbister, The Body of Christ, page 99",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2011, House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs, 2nd Report of Session 2010-11: Auditors: Market Concentration and Their Role, Volume II: Evidence, page 19,\n[Professor Fearnley:] If I can perhaps be a little unkind about my profession — which is fair enough I suppose — I think the accountancy profession, along with other professions, loses the plot from time to time and has to be pulled back from what it was doing before."
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        "(UK, colloquial) To lose sight of an important objective or principle; to act contrarily to one's own interests through concentrating on relatively unimportant matters."
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          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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      ],
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to cease to behave in a consistent and/or rational manner",
      "word": "perder a linha"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to lose sight of the objective",
      "word": "menettää otteensa"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "to lose sight of the objective",
      "word": "kei Mahurangi"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to lose sight of the objective",
      "word": "perder o fio da meada"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to lose sight of the objective",
      "word": "perder el norte"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lose the plot"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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