lost cause

英 [ˌlɒst ˈkɔːz]

美 [ˌlɔːst ˈkɔːz]

n.  业已失败的事情; 没有希望的事情

牛津词典

noun

• 业已失败的事情；没有希望的事情
  something that has failed or that cannot succeed

柯林斯词典

• N-COUNT 必败无疑的事；无望之人
  If you refer to something or someone asa lost cause, you mean that people's attempts to change or influence them have no chance of succeeding.
  1. They do not want to expend energy in what, to them, is a lost cause.
     他们不想把精力投到他们认为注定不会成功的事中去。

英英释义

noun

• a defeated cause or a cause for which defeat is inevitable

双语例句

• It not only delay the time of drilling 、 extend drilling period 、 spend a lot of lost circulation material, but also cause a series of accident such as sticking 、 well spout 、 collapse.
  它不仅会延误钻井作业时间，延长钻井周期，耗费大量堵漏材料，还会引起卡钻、井喷、井塌等一系列复杂情况。
• The lost Supreme Court case was not a lost cause, however.
  然而，输了最高法庭的案子并非一件失败的事情。
• Finding love where you labor is never a lost cause.
  在你工作地方寻找爱不是注定要失败的。
• The fires in Complex is prone to make tremendous economic lost and cause lots of death because of the huge interior space, large fire load, complicated candidate and the difficulty of egress.
  建筑综合体内部功能和空间复杂，火灾荷载大，人员复杂，容易形成火灾，而且火灾发生后疏散不易，容易造成严重的人员伤亡和经济损失。
• One of the toughest decisions faced by hospital staff is how long to keep trying, and when to give up on a particular patient as a lost cause.
  医务人员最难做出的决定之一就是要对患者抢救多长时间，以及应在什么时候承认失败，放弃抢救。
• If the individual doesn't declare a change of heart within six to eight weeks, he's probably a lost cause.
  如果问题员工在六到八个星期内，依然没有改邪归正，可能只能放弃他了。
• You're saying it's a lost cause, right?
  你说这件事失败了，是吗？
• It was a foolish risk, taken in a lost cause, but he was itching to get to it.
  这是一次愚蠢的冒险行动，是注定要失败的，然而他却迫不及待地想去试一试。
• He is a tone deaf, so he is a lost cause when it comes to music.
  他对音调一点感觉也没有，所以听音乐的时候他就无可救药了。
• If the person is a lost cause, walk away.
  如果对方是个心怀鬼胎的人，直接转身离开。