lost soul

plural lost souls

1. set phraselifestyleA soul that is destined to go to hell; a person possessing such a soul.

   “Well, I won't repeat my offer of a wife—It is as bad as offering Satan a lost soul—[…]”

   1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter 11, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, page 253

   1 more example

   St. Malo, seized with pity for the lost soul of the heathen, opens the mound and raises the dead to life.

   1869, Charles Kingsley, chapter 11, in The Hermits

2. broadlyOne who is forlorn, who lacks direction, purpose, or motivation in life.

   We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year

   1975, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, “Wish You Were Here”, in Wish You Were Here, performed by Pink Floyd

   2 more examples

   Of course she stopped paying her dues to the union. She lost all interest in the union[…]. She had about made up her mind that she was a lost soul.

   1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter X, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC

   Charles Jackson's first novel, The Lost Weekend, was the story of five days in the life of a lost soul, Don Birnam, a confirmed and hopeless alcoholic.

   1946 October 7, “Books: The Fall of Valor”, in Time, retrieved 05 May 2015

   Synonyms: loser, sad sack