admit defeat

Verb

admit defeat (third-person singular simple present admits defeat, present participle admitting defeat, simple past and past participle admitted defeat)

1. To accept that one has lost a fight or competition.
   • Sure. Comforting news. If that's the extent of the left's imagination, we may as well throw in the cards and admit defeat and go en masse to sign up at our nearest Anita Bryant Treatment Center!1978 December 9, Mitzel, “Post-Briggs Blues”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 20, page 5
   • Mellor was forced to admit defeat in the wake of his fling with toe-sucking Antonia de Sancha and foreign trips with blonde Mona Bauwens.1992 September 25, “Mellor Quits at Last”, in The Sun
2. To accept that one has failed to achieve a goal.
   • One of China’s poorest and most indebted provinces has admitted defeat in trying to sort out its finances and is appealing to Beijing for help to avert default.2023 April 27, Laura He, “China may have to bail out one of its poorest provinces”, in CNN Business