dead loss
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Something or someone completely useless or unsuccessful
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Điều gì đó hoặc ai đó hoàn toàn vô ích hoặc không thành công
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a loss that is dead
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The new business venture was a dead loss from the start
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “dead loss” mean?
Something or someone completely useless or unsuccessful Literally: a loss that is dead
Is “dead loss” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.