lost in the sauce

adjective

Out of it, lost, e.g. due to intoxication, aimlessness, or being bewildered or distracted.

Meanings

adjectivelost in the sauce (not comparable)
  1. USnot comparableslangOut of it, lost, e.g. due to intoxication, aimlessness, or being bewildered or distracted.

    Yet still lost in the sauce. I had no clue who I was and how I wanted to be loved. That was the triggering moment when I felt that something had to change. I still did not know who I was and what I wanted.

    2021, Cissy Jones, Finding My Way Back To Me, Bowker, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    Our talks over shots of Patrón is what I will miss most. You can't sit and have intellectual, intelligent conversations with some woman in our generation. They are still lost in the sauce and looking for purpose.

    2020, Sherika Moore, Black Love, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

    As soon as Troy saw Jermel the next day, he went at him. “Dogg, what type of crash [is] dummy on?” “Ain't nobody crashing! You just been lost in the sauce, dogg. I handled what needed ta be handled.”

    2021, Tee, Trailblazing, Fulton Books, Inc.
  2. USnot comparableslangLost; lost in the shuffle; allowed to slip through the cracks.

    And because of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the nation's attention was focused elsewhere and reparations just got lost in the sauce, so to speak.

    2007, Michael T. Martin, Marilyn Yaquinto, Redress for Historical Injustices in the United States: On Reparations for Slavery, Jim Crow, and Their Legacies, Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 432
    2 more examples

    He concluded on this note, expressing his concern that the students who escape the attention of their teachers get “lost in the sauce.” Reflecting out loud about the student I was working with, he confided to me, “I think Jared gets ...

    2009, Judd Kruger Levingston, Sowing the Seeds of Character: The Moral Education of Adolescents in Public and Private Schools: The Moral Education of Adolescents in Public and Private Schools, Praeger, →ISBN, page 110

    The propensity of students to get “lost in the sauce” is exacerbated in a course of nearly 3,000 students, since it's more difficult for Boyer and his teaching assistants to keep track of the progress of individual students.

    2013, James M. Lang, Cheating Lessons, Harvard University Press, →ISBN
  3. not comparableUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lost, sauce.

    The meatball maker never intends for the meatball to give up its new and unique identity and be lost in the sauce.

    2018, Marie Armenia, The Audacious Molly Bruno: Amazing Stories from the Life of a Powerful Woman of Prayer, FaithWords, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    Cooking Suggestion To prevent the cheese from getting lost in the sauce or burning, always add the sliced or shredded cheese at the end of the cooking.

    2010, Nadejda Reilly, Ukrainian Cuisine with an American Touch and Ingredients, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 273

    The flesh of the lamprey is fragile and can get lost in the sauce if the dish is stirred while cooking, which we'd been warned against in our session. The taste is often described as also “delicate.”

    2012, G. Y. Dryansky, Joanne Dryansky, Coquilles, Calva, & Crème: Exploring France's Culinary Heritage: A Love Affair with French Food, Open Road Media, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

lost in the sauce. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lost%20in%20the%20sauce

MLA

“lost in the sauce.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lost%20in%20the%20sauce. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lost in the sauce,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lost%20in%20the%20sauce.

Source: lost in the sauce on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.