snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
An ironic reversal of snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Verb[edit]
snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
- (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)
- 2007, William Easterly, "The Ideology of Development," Foreign Policy (Washington, D.C.). June 11, 2007.
Translations[edit]
suddenly lose a contest one seemed very likely to win, especially through mistakes or bad judgment
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