lost soul

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lost soul (plural lost souls)

1. (set phrase, religion) A soul that is destined to go to hell; a person possessing such a soul.
   • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter 11, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, page 253:

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

   • 1869, Charles Kingsley, chapter 11, in The Hermits:

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

2. (by extension) One who is forlorn, who lacks direction, purpose, or motivation in life.

   Synonyms: loser, sad sack

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

     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.

   • 1946 October 7, “Books: The Fall of Valor”, in Time, retrieved 5 May 2015:

     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.

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

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

• woebegone