Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromichi]

What does the captioned phrase mean.? For your information Ozawa is a president of the opposition party which defeated the ruling party in an election of the Upper House held last month-end in Japan.



My fear that Ozawa would somehow snatch
defeat from the jaws of victory did not come true.
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Hiromichi

[CP]

The original expression is "snatch victory from the jaws of defeat." Your favorite team is losing the entire game long, and defeat seems certain, but in the last few minutes, your team scores three goals and wins, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

But sometimes people do the opposite. Seeming to have the election locked up, or seeming to have an easy win in the race or the match, the person or team does something wrong and loses at the last moment. Then someone will probably turn the old expression on its head and say "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."

In your quote, the author was afraid that Ozawa was going to mess it up and lose, but he did not.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[hiromichi]

CP:
Thank you very much.
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Hiromichi