lose the plot
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To lose control or understanding of a situation
Literally: fail to follow the storyline
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Unfortunately, halfway through it loses the plot and its authenticity and sadly slips into excruciatingly painful white boy reggae mode.
While we believe THE FACE to be a pretentious load of bollocks that's completely lost the plot, we support absolutely your right to continue printing such old tosh.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “lose the plot” mean?
To lose control or understanding of a situation Literally: fail to follow the storyline
Is “lose the plot” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.