English Explanatory Dictionary

snatch victory from the jaws of defeat

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To suddenly win a contest when it appears that loss is a foregone conclusion, to succeed in an endeavor through reversal of fortune, skill, effort, or good judgment.

Pronunciation

En-au-snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.ogg

Word forms

snatch victory from the jaws of defeat snatches victory from the jaws of defeat snatching victory from the jaws of defeat snatched victory from the jaws of defeat

Etymology

The first recorded use of the phrase discovered to date is an article criticizing Representative James Seddon of Virginia for claiming that a regiment in the Mexican–American War had "snatched victory from the jaws of defeat."

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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