lost cause

L

lost cause (idiom)
/ˌlɒst ˈkɔːz/

Meanings

• A hopeless situation or effort with no chance of success.
• A person who cannot be helped, changed, or saved.
• An attempt, project, or goal that is destined to fail.
• A defeated cause, movement, or struggle that cannot be revived.

Synonyms: hopeless case; no-hoper; futile effort; dead end; waste of time; failure.

Example Sentences

1. The old car was a lost cause, even after endless repairs.
2. They tried to reform him, but he turned out to be a lost cause.
3. Negotiating with such stubborn leaders soon became a lost cause.
4. The rebellion proved a lost cause after the army was defeated.

Origin and History

The idiom “lost cause” is generally understood as a transparent English compound, formed from “lost” in the sense of unattainable or defeated and “cause,” meaning a principle, undertaking, or case. Together they signify a hopeless or irredeemable endeavor. Theories of its etymology emphasize its natural formation within English, without evidence of borrowing from other languages. Its conceptual roots align with long-standing rhetorical and legal uses of “cause” to denote a matter or case and with the broader medieval use of “lost” to express futility.

Some interpreters also trace a deeper intellectual backdrop to classical ideals, particularly Roman literature that romanticized noble defeat, though the phrase itself is firmly English in coinage. By the Restoration era, it crystallized as a figurative descriptor for doomed political or moral allegiances, reflecting themes of loyalty, futility, and resignation in a period of upheaval.

Historical Development and Ideological Interpretations

The earliest uses of “lost cause” in the late seventeenth century described allegiance to failed political sides or principles. In this context, it conveyed fidelity to a defeated cause—whether dynastic, religious, or moral—without implying ridicule. By the early eighteenth century, the idiom was circulating in literary, religious, and political texts, used in sermons and pamphlets to characterize futile struggles or misplaced loyalties. Over time, the phrase acquired a more general meaning of hopelessness, applying to personal, social, or political situations that could not succeed.

By the nineteenth century, “lost cause” underwent a dramatic resemanticization in the United States. Following the Civil War, the capitalized phrase “The Lost Cause” became an ideological label for a revisionist narrative that sought to recast the Confederate defeat in romantic and noble terms. Popularized by Edward A. Pollard’s 1866 book The Lost Cause, this narrative minimized slavery’s centrality, emphasized Southern valor, and framed the Confederacy’s fall as tragic but dignified. Scholars interpret this ideological use as a deliberate cultural construction serving reconciliation, regional pride, and white supremacist ideology. While distinct from the earlier idiom, it transformed “lost cause” into a phrase of enduring political and cultural resonance, bridging a general English idiom of futility with a powerful American myth.

Country of Origin

The phrase “lost cause” originated in England in the late seventeenth century. Its early presence in Restoration-era print culture, particularly in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, reflects the language of loyalty to ousted monarchs and factions. The British provenance of the idiom is reinforced by its first appearances in London publications, from which it spread both in Britain and later to transatlantic contexts.

Earliest Printed Record of the Term

The earliest verifiable printed record of “lost cause” appears in John Dryden’s play Amphitryon; or, The Two Sosias, published in London by Jacob Tonson in 1690. In his dedicatory epistle to Sir William Leveson-Gower, Bart., Dryden wrote:

“…though they are of a contrary Opinion themselves, yet blame not me for adhering to a lost Cause.”

This instance is the foundational attestation, demonstrating that the figurative sense was already firmly established by 1690. Dryden used the phrase in a political and personal context, signaling loyalty to the deposed Stuart monarchy amid his professional challenges.

A corroborating early occurrence appears more than a decade later in Thomas Hooper’s Sermon Preach’d before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, delivered on 31 January 1703/4 (Old Style) and published in London. Hooper likewise referred to adherence “to a loſt Cauſe,” confirming that the phrase had entered broader sermonic and political discourse in early eighteenth-century England.

Together, these examples firmly situate the idiom in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century English usage, with Dryden’s 1690 use standing as the earliest printed record.

In summary, the idiom “lost cause” thus originated in England in the late seventeenth century, emerging from native English elements and rhetorical traditions. Its earliest printed use is in Dryden’s Amphitryon (1690), and its figurative meaning of hopelessness was already in place at that time. From its beginnings in Restoration politics and sermons, the idiom evolved into a general expression of futility before being reappropriated in the nineteenth-century United States as “The Lost Cause,” an ideological myth of Confederate nostalgia. Today, its original sense of “a hopeless effort” endures globally, while its capitalized American form carries a historically specific cultural weight.

Variants

• hopeless cause
• gone cause (rare)
• a cause lost (archaic)

Failure, Hope