Lost Generation

noun

1. the generation of men and women who came of age during or immediately following World War I: viewed, as a result of their war experiences and the social upheaval of the time, as cynical, disillusioned, and without cultural or emotional stability.
2. a group of American writers of this generation, including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and John Dos Passos.

Lost Generation

noun

1. the large number of talented young men killed in World War I
2. the generation of writers, esp American authors such as Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway, active after World War I

lost generation

1. The young adults of Europe and America during World War I . They were “lost” because after the war many of them were disillusioned with the world in general and unwilling to move into a settled life. Gertrude Stein is usually credited with popularizing the expression.

Notes

The characters in the book The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway , are examples of the lost generation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Lost Generation¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

With huge technological transformations in the labour market around the corner, it is a race to avoid a permanent lost generation.

From BBC

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas convened and inspired an entire network of “lost generation” artists and writers in their Paris salon.

From Los Angeles Times

An examination by The New York Times and The Baltimore Banner — drawing on previously undisclosed autopsy records, more than 100 interviews and a novel data analysis — revealed the impact on these men, who make up part of a little-recognized lost generation.

From New York Times

One effect of the regulation, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study, is a “lost generation” of innovation; smartphone app stores have added nearly one-third fewer applications.

From Los Angeles Times

After the war, people would speak of a “lost generation.”

From Literature