Learn English – Idiom/word/saying request: Accepting a situation out of desperation

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How can I say for example:

Individual retailers run out of business when a big fish came to town. So they had accepted that they cannot compete and closed their stores.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson finally gave in, even though he was innocent. Because the witnesses were against him, he did not oppose the charges (out of desperation).

So I think there may be a word perfect for this. 'yield' is closest that comes to my mind.

Best Answer

You could say that they were resigned to their fate.

From Wiktionary:

To submit passively; to give up as hopeless or inevitable. [from 15th c.]
Here is a man who was resigned to his fate, who was walking to the scaffold and about to die like a coward, that's true, but at least he was about to die without resisting and without recrimination. Do you know what gave him that much strength? Do you know what consoled him? Do you know what resigned him to his fate?

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