come to grief

Idioms  

1. Meet with disaster or failure. For example, The icy runway caused at least one light plane to come to grief. [Mid-1800s]

---

Example Sentences

“A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good,” Machiavelli cautioned his readers.“Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to maintain his position to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.”

From Salon

Two oilmen would come to grief, more or less, in the 1920s.

From Los Angeles Times

Not intended as a mere star vehicle for its increasingly high-profile male lead, the visually stripped-back production is emotionally revelatory, too: Frecknall’s forensic skills allow us to look afresh at a motley gathering of people, Patsy Ferran’s tremulous Blanche DuBois chief among them, who seek understanding and compassion but just as frequently come to grief.

From New York Times

In the end, both Musk and Twitter may well come to grief.

From Washington Post

And, like other presidents who mistook their mandate, his administration has come to grief.

From Washington Post