When packet loss occurs, are the packets truly being "lost", or are they simply fading into the background? (computing)

There are times when say a router becomes overloaded and it "loses some packets". Those "lost" packets have basically been lost in translation and there are chances small bits of that particular packet have actually been lost. When lots of data is streaming through your router and going to its ethernet or wifi signal, the signal itself may theoretically get "run over". The question is certainly debatable, but at least in my opinion, they have in a sense faded into the background to sometimes never be found again.