pyrrhic

[pir-ik]Prosody

adjective

consisting of two short or unaccented syllables.

composed of or pertaining to pyrrhics.

noun

Also called dibrach. a pyrrhic foot.

Origin of pyrrhic

1620–30; < Latin pyrrhichius < Greek pyrrhíchios pertaining to the pyrrhíchē pyrrhic²

pyrrhic

[pir-ik]

noun

an ancient Greek warlike dance in which the motions of actual warfare were imitated.

adjective

of, relating to, or denoting this dance.

Origin of pyrrhic

1590–1600; < Latin pyrrhicha < Greek pyrrhíchē a dance; said to be named after Pyrrhichus, the inventor

Pyrrhic

[pir-ik]

adjective

of, relating to, or resembling Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, or his costly victory.

Origin of Pyrrhic

First recorded in 1880–85; Pyrrh(us) + -ic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pyrrhic

Contemporary Examples of pyrrhic

It's a pyrrhic symbolic victory that could actually be causing extra environmental damage.
The Quixotic Crusade Against the Keystone Pipeline
Megan McArdle
March 1, 2013
This will be a war of attrition and a Pyrrhic and Camdean Victory for myself.
Rogue L.A. Cop’s Facebook Manifesto: ‘You Will Now Live the Life of Prey’
The Daily Beast
February 8, 2013
Legislators are no longer thinking ahead even as far as the next election; all their focus is on the next Pyrrhic victory.
Washington Goes Platinum
Megan McArdle
January 8, 2013
But Howard Kurtz says it could prove a pyrrhic victory that could threaten his second-term agenda.
Obama Fiscal Cliff Victory Could Invite Years of Warfare With the GOP
Howard Kurtz
January 2, 2013
However, if that is all that isaccomplished, it will be a Pyrrhic victory.
Be Careful What You Wish For In Syria
Theodore Kattouf
December 7, 2012

Historical Examples of pyrrhic

But Methuen's first engagements seemed to him to be Pyrrhic victories.
Lord Milner's Work in South Africa
W. Basil Worsfold
They had the Pyrrhic dances, but they had the Pyrrhic phalanx as well!
The Mother of Washington and Her Times
Sara Agnes Rice Pryor
This was a Pyrrhic victory; the State had absorbed the Inquisition.
A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II
Henry Charles Lea
You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet;Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?
The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886
Ministry of Education
The Pyrrhic dance of the Greeks was a sort of military Pantomime.
A History of Pantomime
R. J. Broadbent

British Dictionary definitions for pyrrhic

pyrrhic

noun

a metrical foot of two short or unstressed syllables

adjective

of or relating to such a metrical foot

(of poetry) composed in pyrrhics

Word Origin for pyrrhic

C16: via Latin, from Greek purrhikhē, traditionally said to be named after its inventor Purrhikhos

pyrrhic

noun

a war dance of ancient Greece

adjective

of or relating to this dance

Word Origin for pyrrhic

C17: Latin from Greek purrhikhios belonging to the purrhikhē war dance performed in armour; see pyrrhic 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pyrrhic

Pyrrhic

adj.

1885 (usually in phrase Pyrrhic victory), from Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who defeated Roman armies at Asculum, 280 B.C.E., but at such cost to his own troops that he was unable to follow up and attack Rome itself, and is said to have remarked, "one more such victory and we are lost."

"dance in armor" (1590s), also a type of metrical foot (1620s), from Latin pyrrhicha, from Greek pyrrikhe orkhesis, the war-dance of ancient Greece, traditionally named for its inventor, Pyrrikhos. The name means "reddish," from pyrros "flame-colored," from pyr "fire" (see fire (n.)). As an adjective from 1749.