Cadmean victory

American  

noun

1. a victory attained at as great a loss to the victor as to the vanquished.

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Cadmean victory British  

/ ˈkædmɪən /

noun

1. another name for Pyrrhic victory

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Etymology

Origin of Cadmean victory

First recorded in 1595–1605

Example Sentences

It would be a Cadmean victory in which the victor would suffer as much as the vanquished.

From How to be Happy Though Married Being a Handbook to Marriage by Hardy, Edward John

With averted face she held out the envelope, then the curtain fell; and in solitude the aching heart went over the fatal field, silently burying its slain hopes, realizing the bitterness of its Cadmean victory.

From At the Mercy of Tiberius by Evans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)

Yet he who thought he ought to have a Cadmean victory, carried on his conquest.

From Arguments Of Celsus, Porphyry, And The Emperor Julian, Against The Christians Also Extracts from Diodorus Siculus, Josephus, and Tacitus, Relating to the Jews, Together with an Appendix by Taylor, Thomas