lose track of something Definition

lose
verb lost, losing

1a. To fail to keep or obtain something, especially because of a mistake, carelessness, etc;

Example: lost his money through a hole in his pocket
1b. To stop or begin to stop having (some distinguishing quality, characteristic or property);

Example: She was losing her nerve
Example: Despite everything, he hasn't lost his sense of humour
1c. To become less marked, noticeable, intense, etc in a specified way.

Example: These roses have lost their smell
2a. To misplace something, especially temporarily;

Example: I've lost the car keys
Thesaurus: misplace, mislay, forget; Antonym: find.
2b. To be unable to find something;
2c. To leave accidentally.

Example: I lost the umbrella at the cinema
3a. To suffer the loss of someone (usually a close friend or relative) through death;
3b. To suffer the loss of (an unborn baby) through miscarriage or stillbirth;
3c. To fail to save the life of (especially a patient);
3d. To be deprived of someone or something (life, possessions, etc), especially in a war, fire, natural disaster, etc;

Example: The village lost half its population in the earthquake
3e. To be killed or drowned, especially at sea.

Form: be lost
4. To fail to use or get something; to miss (an opportunity).

Thesaurus: miss, forfeit.
tr & intr
5a. To fail to win (a game, vote, proposal, election, battle, bet, etc);

Thesaurus: be defeated, fail, succumb; Antonym: win.
5b. To give away; to forfeit.

Example: lost £50 on the horses
6a. To be unable or no longer able to hear, see, understand, etc someone or something;

Example: Sorry, I lost what you said when that noisy bus went by
6b. To confuse or bewilder someone.

Example: Sorry, you've lost me there
7a. To escape or get away from someone or something;
7b. Said of a competitor in a race, etc: to leave (the rest of the field, etc) behind.
8. Said of a clock or watch: to become slow by (a specified amount).

Idiom: lose one's cool

colloq
To become upset.

Idiom: lose face

To be humiliated or discredited.

Idiom: lose one's grip (lose one's grip on something)

To be unable to control or understand things.

Idiom: lose ground

To slip back or behind.
Example: Major steadily lost ground in the opinion polls

Idiom: lose one's head

To become angry or irrational.

Idiom: lose heart

To become discouraged; to despair.

Idiom: lose one's heart (lose one's heart to someone)

To fall in love (with them).

Idiom: lose one's licence

To be disqualified from driving, usually for exceeding the limit of alcohol in the blood or for driving dangerously.

Idiom: lose one's marbles

slang
To go completely crazy.

Idiom: lose one's mind (lose one's reason)

To behave irrationally, especially temporarily.

Idiom: lose one's rag (lose the rag)

(rit)
colloq
To become very angry.

Idiom: lose sight of someone or something

To be unable or no longer able to see them or it.

To forget or ignore the importance of them or it.
Example: They lost sight of their original aims

Idiom: lose sleep over something

To worry about it or be preoccupied by it.

Idiom: lose one's temper

To become angry.

Idiom: lose one's touch

To forget how to do something; to be less proficient at doing something than one used to be.

Idiom: lose touch with someone or something

To no longer be in contact with them or it.

Idiom: lose track of someone or something

To fail to notice or monitor the passing or progress of them or it.

Idiom: lose one's voice

To be unable or hardly able to speak, especially due to having a sore throat, a cold or flu.

Idiom: lose one's way (lose the way)

To be unable or no longer able to tell where one is or in which direction one should be going; to stray from one's intended route by mistake.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon losian to be lost.

Phrasal Verb: lose oneself in something

To have all of one's attention taken up by it.

Phrasal Verb: lose out

To suffer loss or be at a disadvantage.To fail to get something one wants.

Phrasal Verb: lose out on something

To fail to benefit from it.

Phrasal Verb: lose to someone

To be beaten by them.
Example: He lost to a more experienced player

Info:

A word often confused with this one is loose.

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track
noun

1a. A mark or series of marks that something leaves behind;

Example: a tyre track
Thesaurus: trail, footprint, impression, trace, mark, remnant, clue.
1b. A mark or series of marks, or a trail, that usually consists of footprints, and which indicates that a person, animal, etc has passed by;
1c. A course of action, thought, etc that someone or something has taken.

Example: followed in her mother's tracks and studied medicine
2. A rough path, especially one that has been made by many people walking along it.

Thesaurus: course, path, road, route, passage, lane, walk.
3. A specially prepared course, especially one that is used for racing.

Example: a race track
4. The branch of athletics that comprises all the running events. See also track and field.
5. A railway line, ie the parallel rails, the space in between, and the sleepers and stones below.
6. A length of railing that something, such as a curtain, spotlight, etc, can move along.
7a. The groove cut in a record (noun 4) by the recording instrument;
7b. An individual song, etc on an album, CD, cassette, etc;
7c. One of several paths on magnetic recording tape that receives information from a single input channel;
7d. One of a series of parallel paths on magnetic recording tape that contains a single sequence of signals;
7e. A soundtrack;
7f. computing.
An area on the surface of a magnetic disk where data can be stored and which is created during the process of formatting.
8. A line, path or course of travel, passage or movement.

Example: followed the track of the storm
9. The line or course of thought, reasoning, etc.

Example: couldn't follow the track of his argument
10. The predetermined line of travel of an aircraft.
11. The continuous band that heavy vehicles, eg tanks, mechanical diggers, etc, have instead of individual tyres and which allows them to travel over rough surfaces.
12. The distance between a wheel on one side of a vehicle and the corresponding wheel on the other side, taken by measuring the distance between the parts of the wheels which actually touch the ground.
13. drug-taking slang
A red mark, eg on someone's forearm, that indicates that they use or have used intravenous drugs.
Form: tracks (usually)

verb tracked, tracking

1. To follow the marks, footprints, etc left by (a person or animal).

Thesaurus: follow, hunt, trail, pursue, stalk, dog (slang).
2. To follow and usually plot the course of (a spacecraft, satellite, etc) by radar.
intr
3. Said of a television or film camera or its operator: to move, especially in such a way as to follow a moving subject, always keeping them or it in focus. See also tracking shot.

Form: track in (often)
Form: track out
Form: track back
4. Said of a stylus or laser beam: to extract information from (a recording medium, eg a vinyl record or a compact disc).
intr
5. Said of a vehicle's rear wheels: to run exactly in the course of the front wheels.

Idiom: across the tracks

colloq
A socially disadvantaged area of town.

Idiom: cover one's tracks

To make an effort to ensure that one's motives, movements, etc cannot be easily discovered.

Idiom: in one's tracks

Exactly where one is standing; right there and then.
Example: The news stopped her in her tracks

Idiom: keep track of something or someone (lose track of something or someone)

To keep, or fail to keep, oneself informed about the progress, whereabouts, etc of them or it.
Example: Sorry I'm late ― I lost all track of time

Idiom: make tracks

colloq
To leave; to set out.
Thesaurus: leave, depart, set out, dash off, hurry, make off, hit the road, scram (slang), split (slang).

Idiom: off the beaten track

Away from busy roads and therefore difficult to gain access to or find.

Idiom: on the right track (on the wrong track)

Pursuing the right or wrong line of inquiry.

Idiom: on the track of someone or something

Following, pursuing or looking for them or it.

Idiom: the wrong side of the tracks

A poor or disadvantaged urban area, especially one that is perceived as socially inferior.

Etymology: 15c: from French trac.

Phrasal Verb: track someone or something down

To search for and find them or it after following clues, etc.
Example: managed to track down the address