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]

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Example Sentences

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

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 3, 2023

HAMILTON, Bermuda — Many a well-financed maritime expedition has come to grief through the centuries in the treacherous, deep blue waters off Bermuda.

From New York Times • Jun. 26, 2017

Around the world they have often borrowed and spent their way to short-term popularity, only to come to grief when the easy money runs out.

From Washington Post • Jan. 28, 2017

Two of the 30 fences were missed out for the first time in 164 runnings of the National as runners were ordered to bypass obstacles where the stricken horses had come to grief.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2011

The rest could run away and come to grief as they might.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams