Idiom
snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
Meaning
To suddenly lose a contest one seemed very likely to win, especially through mistakes or bad judgment.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“They played poorly and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”
“The team led by ten points until the final minute, when they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with two careless errors.”
“Despite holding a commanding lead throughout the entire tournament, the champion faltered at the final hurdle and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Examples
simple
“They played poorly and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”
contextual
“The team led by ten points until the final minute, when they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with two careless errors.”
complex
“Despite holding a commanding lead throughout the entire tournament, the champion faltered at the final hurdle and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Origin
An ironic reversal of snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Key words
Related idioms
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