play a losing game

Idioms  

1. see under losing battle.

---

Example Sentences

Lausche does not like to play a losing game or to back a risky candidate.

From Time Magazine Archive

To refuse to give him this chance merely because you are weak in trumps, is to play a losing game.

From Hoyle's Games Modernized by Hoffmann, Louis

She, too, could play a losing game with dignity, grace, and pride; even if, as in this case, it was the cruellest game that a girl can be called upon to play.

From Too Old for Dolls A Novel by Ludovici, Anthony M. (Anthony Mario)

It's all right to build, provided that as you go along you are making a living profit, but dogged determination to play a losing game year after year is not to a man's credit.

From Dollars and Sense by Hunter, William Crosbie

The Kindergarten exercises are not competitive, and do not teach a child to play a losing game with effort and good grace.

From Home Life in Germany by Sidgwick, Alfred, Mrs.