snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

present singular third person snatches defeat from the jaws of victory · participle present snatching defeat from the jaws of victory · participle past snatched defeat from the jaws of victory · past snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

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

   2005, William Kristol, "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?" The Weekly Standard (Washington, D.C.). 6 September 2005.

   5 more examples

   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)

   1999, Abraham Lincoln removed Gen. Ambrose Burnside from command after the Battle of Fredricksburg (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.

   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.

   2008, Victor Davis Hanson, "Snatching Defeat from the jaws of victory," National Review (New York, New York). 31 January 2008.