pyrrhic1
[pir-ik]Prosody
- consisting of two short or unaccented syllables.
- composed of or pertaining to pyrrhics.
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- Also called dibrach. a pyrrhic foot.
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Origin of pyrrhic1
pyrrhic2
[pir-ik]
- an ancient Greek warlike dance in which the motions of actual warfare were imitated.
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- of, relating to, or denoting this dance.
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Origin of pyrrhic2
1590–1600; < Latin pyrrhicha < Greek pyrrhíchē a dance; said to be named after Pyrrhichus, the inventor
Pyrrhic
[pir-ik]
- of, relating to, or resembling Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, or his costly victory.
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Origin of Pyrrhic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pyrrhic
Contemporary Examples
It's a pyrrhic symbolic victory that could actually be causing extra environmental damage.
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.
But Howard Kurtz says it could prove a pyrrhic victory that could threaten his second-term agenda.
However, if that is all that isaccomplished, it will be a Pyrrhic victory.
Historical Examples
But Methuen's first engagements seemed to him to be Pyrrhic victories.
Lord Milner's Work in South AfricaW. Basil Worsfold
They had the Pyrrhic dances, but they had the Pyrrhic phalanx as well!
The Mother of Washington and Her TimesSara Agnes Rice Pryor
This was a Pyrrhic victory; the State had absorbed the Inquisition.
A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume IIHenry Charles Lea
You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet;Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?
The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886Ministry of Education
The Pyrrhic dance of the Greeks was a sort of military Pantomime.
A History of PantomimeR. J. Broadbent
pyrrhic1
- a metrical foot of two short or unstressed syllables
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- of or relating to such a metrical foot
- (of poetry) composed in pyrrhics
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Word Origin
C16: via Latin, from Greek purrhikhē, traditionally said to be named after its inventor Purrhikhos
pyrrhic2
- a war dance of ancient Greece
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- of or relating to this dance
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Word Origin
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
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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."
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n.
"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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper