The phrase "grave defeat" is correct and can be used in written English.
It can be used to describe a significant or serious defeat in a specific situation or context. Example: The team suffered a grave defeat in the championship game, leaving them devastated and questioning their abilities.
During this period, the Arabs suffered the grave defeats of the "Day of Thirst" and the Battle of the Pass and were weakened by internal conflicts as well.
(His firm's gravest defeat came in a smuggling case — targeting Uncle Henry — that was brought by the United States government in 1910; the Duveens quickly swung a loan, arranged by J. P. Morgan, to pay the judgment of $1.2 million).
They are returning, 50 years later, from what should have been their eternal grave, the defeat of Nazi Germany.
It will not be as grave a defeat as many conservatives would like to think: the health care bill may yet be remembered by liberals as a victory worth the price, the demographic trends are still with the Democrats, and the Republicans will return to power unprepared to wield it.
The threat from the latter was so grave that, after their defeat in 1230, the Scottish crown ordered the public execution of the infant girl who happened to be the last of the MacWilliam line.
There is even a photo of a mass grave after a defeat of these famed warriors; they were no more aggressive or successful than their contemporaries.
But he warned that "any foe who might ever challenge our national resolve would be repeating the grave error of defeated adversaries".
Defeating grave human rights problems like systemic racism, or police brutality, or the denial of health care can seem overwhelming.
But such difficulties and divisions might be less grave than an outright defeat.
Hartlepool United's 96-year grip on a Football League place is in grave peril and a defeat at Cheltenham Town, two places and four points above them in League Two, may be enough to apply the final wound with a game to spare.
