Phrase guide

lost in translation

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Unable to be understood due to having been poorly translated.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable

Examples

  • I tried reading the instruction manual but many of the steps were unfortunately lost in translation.
  • The message of the Japanese Prime Minister's speech was lost in translation.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 翻譯腔 /翻译腔 (fānyìqiāng) — unable to be understood due to having been poorly translated
  • Finnish: kadota käännöksessä — unable to be understood due to having been poorly translated