PYRRHIC VICTORY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Pyrrhic victory

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/pˈɪrɪk vˈɪktəri/ Listen

adjective

Pyrrhic adj.

Of or pertaining to an ancient Greek martial dance. " ye have the pyrrhic dance as yet."

(Pros.) Of or pertaining to a pyrrhic, or to pyrrhics; containing pyrrhic; as, a pyrrhic verse.

Pyrrhic victory,

(a)

a victory in which the winning side sustains very heavy losses.

(b)

any act supposedly benefitting the actor, for which the costs outweight the benefits.

See images of 'Pyrrhic victory'

Etymology of 'Pyrrhic victory'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Pyrrhic victory" Quotes from Famous Books

... same result of a sharp correspondence, abounding in strong language, but affording Canning further opportunity to confuse issues and escape from reparations, which, however just and wise, were distasteful. It was a Pyrrhic victory for the British minister, destroying the last chance of conciliating American acquiescence in a line of action forced upon Great Britain by Napoleon; but as a mere question of dialectics he had scored ...

— Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 - Volume 1 • Alfred Thayer Mahan

... found many who were willing to succour her; with the result that although she lost something in these negotiations, Japan nevertheless failed in a very signal fashion to attain her main objective. The Pyrrhic victory which she won with her eleventh hour ultimatum will indeed in the end cost her more than would have a complete failure, for Chinese suspicion and hostility are now so deep-seated that nothing will ever completely eradicate ...

— The Fight For The Republic In China • B.L. Putnam Weale