Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic)Tosuddenlyloseacontestone seemed verylikelytowin, especially throughmistakesorbadjudgment.1874, Illinois sports pages, "but when they [the Whitesocks baseball team]snatch defeat from the jaws of victorythere can be little sympathy for their deserved misfortune." (Quoteinvestigator)1999, Abraham Lincoln removed Gen. Ambrose Burnside from command after the Battle of Fredricksburg[sic](11-15 December 1862), describing his actions assnatching 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 1992.2005, William Kristol,"Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?"The Weekly Standard(Washington, D.C.). 6 September 2005.2007, William Easterly,"The Ideology of Development,"Foreign Policy(Washington, D.C.). June 11, 2007.... since the fall of communism, the West has managed tosnatch 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 2008.2009,"Teenagerssnatch defeat from the jaws of victory,"Londonderry Sentinal(Londonderry, Northern Ireland). 22 October 2009.2010, Peter Roebuck."Touristssnatch defeat from jaws of victory,"Sydney Morning Herald(Sydney, New South Wales). 8 January 2010.2023October 4, Drachinifel, 28:18 from the start, inBattle of the Komandorski Islands - Forced to run, yet still they won[1], archived fromthe originalon4 October 2023:Thisanalysis was reflected in the fates of the respective commanding officers. McMorris, who'd managed to, by luckandjudgment, retain all of his ships, was made Nimitz's chief of staff. Hosogaya, who'd managed tosnatch defeat from the jaws of victory, was relieved of command and forced to retire to the reserves, where he would never again be allowed an active seagoing command.
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