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.
Origin
1925-30
British Dictionary definitions for Lost Generation

Lost Generation

noun (sometimes not capitals)
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
Contemporary definitions for Lost Generation
noun

young people coming of age during and shortly after World War I, esp. disillusioned by the number of people killed in the war

Lost Generation in Culture

lost generation definition


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.

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