win the battle, but lose the war

verb

To achieve a portion of a goal, but fail to achieve the entire goal.

“By turning in that one assignment, you may have won the battle, but you never turned anything else in, so in the end you lost the war.”

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Meanings

verbwin the battle, but lose the war (third-person singular simple present wins the battle, but loses the war, present participle winning the battle, but losing the war, simple past and past participle won the battle, but lost the war)

present singular third person wins the battle, but loses the war · participle present winning the battle, but losing the war · participle past won the battle, but lost the war · past won the battle, but lost the war

  1. idiomaticTo achieve a portion of a goal, but fail to achieve the entire goal.

    By turning in that one assignment, you may have won the battle, but you never turned anything else in, so in the end you lost the war.

Translations

Finnish voittaa taistelu, mutta hävitä koko sota
  • voittaa taistelu, mutta hävitä koko sotaachieve a portion of a goal
Cite this entry
APA

win the battle, but lose the war. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/win%20the%20battle%2C%20but%20lose%20the%20war

MLA

“win the battle, but lose the war.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/win%20the%20battle%2C%20but%20lose%20the%20war. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “win the battle, but lose the war,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/win%20the%20battle%2C%20but%20lose%20the%20war.

Source: win the battle, but lose the war on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.