AT A LOSS

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does at a loss mean? 

• AT A LOSS (adjective)
  The adjective AT A LOSS has 1 sense:

1. filled with bewilderment

  Familiarity information: AT A LOSS used as an adjective is very rare.

• AT A LOSS (adverb)
  The adverb AT A LOSS has 1 sense:

1. below cost

  Familiarity information: AT A LOSS used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AT A LOSS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Filled with bewilderment

Synonyms:

at a loss; nonplused; nonplussed; puzzled

Context example:

puzzled that she left without saying goodbye

Similar:

perplexed (full of difficulty or confusion or bewilderment)

• AT A LOSS (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Below cost

Context example:

sold the car at a loss

 Context examples 

"I hope I may always have the title of a friend. And let me say that I am at a loss for words to thank you for your goodness to my poor dear."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

We have had a very painful incident at St. Luke’s, and really, but for the happy chance of your being in town, I should have been at a loss what to do.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was equally at a loss to express my emotions.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But this interjection appeared to him so absurd that he was at a loss how to deal with it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Wood seemed at a loss.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And yet I was at a loss to know why.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But, if what I told him were true, he was still at a loss how a kingdom could run out of its estate, like a private person.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I have—I have received a letter; and I am at a loss whether I should show it to the police.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“I am at a loss to know, sir,” he said, “what you can have to speak about which affects me personally in a very intimate fashion.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They had wandered a long way; and when they looked to see which way they should go home, they found themselves at a loss to know what path to take.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)