Definition of "at a loss" []

• Below the cost or price of purchase. (phrase)
• Not sure; uncertain; lacking further ideas, direction, or ability. (phrase)

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• "This is doubtful, and even Brown's most admiring biographers are at a loss when confronted with Pottawatomie; one suggests that he was in a trance, another refers to the murders as "executions", but none can offer an acceptable explanation, let alone a defence."
• "Bill Roscoe spoke briskly, obviously at a loss to understand the tough Marine Major's remark."
• "The most trusted of my counselors is a man of extraordinary competency never at a loss in any situation."