be a dead loss

be a dead loss

1. if something or someone is a dead loss, they disappoint you because they are of bad quality or because they are not able to do what you want them to do. The meeting was a dead loss. We didn't come to a single decision. He may have been a great poet, but he was a dead loss as a husband.

2. to be very bad at a particular activity or subject. I was an absolute dead loss at sport when I was at school. (sometimes + at)

See also: dead, loss