snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

English

Etymology

An ironic reversal of snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Verb

snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

1. (idiomatic) To suddenly lose a contest one seemed very likely to win, especially through mistakes or bad judgment.
   • 2007, William Easterly, "The Ideology of Development," Foreign Policy (Washington, D.C.). June 11, 2007.

     ... since the fall of communism, the West has managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and with disastrous results.

   • 2010, Peter Roebuck. "Tourists snatch defeat from jaws of victory," Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, New South Wales). 8 January 2010.
   • 2009, "Teenagers snatch defeat from the jaws of victory," Londonderry Sentinal (Londonderry, Northern Ireland). 22 October 2009.
   • 2008, Victor Davis Hanson, "Snatching Defeat from the jaws of victory," National Review (New York, New York). 31 January 2008.
   • 2005, William Kristol, "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?" The Weekly Standard (Washington, D.C.). 6 September 2005.
   • 1999, Abraham Lincoln removed Gen. Ambrose Burnside from command after the Battle of Fredricksbrug (11-15 December 1862), describing his actions as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory—Janis Herbert, The Civil War for Kids. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press, p. 68.
   • 1999, Daniel N. Nelson, "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," Journal of the Atomic Scientists (Chicago, Illinois). October 1992.
   • 1874, Illinois sports pages, "but when they [the Whitesocks baseball team] snatch defeat from the jaws of victory there can be little sympathy for their deserved misfortune." (Quoteinvestigator)

Translations

suddenly lose a contest one seemed very likely to win, especially through mistakes or bad judgment

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 转胜为败

• Italian: strappare la sconfitta dalle fauci della vittoria

Anagrams

• snatch victory from the jaws of defeat