🗓️ Idiom: A Lost Cause (n)
💬 Meaning
- A situation with no chance of success.
- Something that cannot be saved, fixed, or improved.
🧠 Example Sentences
- He felt the interview was a lost cause after he answered the first question badly.
- She kept trying to fix her résumé, but the old format was a lost cause.
- The candidate thought the interview was a lost cause, but the company still called him back.
🏛️ Origin
The phrase comes from older English and European expressions referring to causes or goals that could not succeed, no matter the effort. Today, it simply means something hopeless or impossible to improve.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank
After missing the key question, Mark felt the interview was __________.
Answer
a lost cause
2. Multiple choice
What does “a lost cause” mean?
a) Something that still has a good chance
b) Something with no hope of success
c) Something that is easy to fix
Answer
b) Something with no hope of success
3. Change the sentence using “a lost cause”
“She felt there was no chance of saving the interview.”
Answer
She felt the interview was a lost cause.
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Rob is a CELTA qualified English teacher with 15 years of international experience. He has a BSc and PGDip from Loughborough and St Andrews universities in the UK. He has taught in Thailand and Saudi Arabia and now works with professionals worldwide.
