Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for Pyrrhic victory

Pyrrhic victory

noun

  1. a victory or goal achieved at too great a cost.


Pyrrhic victory

noun

  1. a victory in which the victor's losses are as great as those of the defeated Also calledCadmean victory
“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

Pyrrhic victory

  1. A victory that is accompanied by enormous losses and leaves the winners in as desperate shape as if they had lost. Pyrrhus was an ancient general who, after defeating the Romans, told those who wished to congratulate him, “One more such victory and Pyrrhus is undone.”
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pyrrhic victory1

1880–85; < Greek Pyrrikós; after a remark attributed by Plutarch to Pyrrhus, who declared, after a costly victory over the Romans, that another similar victory would ruin him
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pyrrhic victory1

named after Pyrrhus , who defeated the Romans at Asculum in 279 bc but suffered heavy losses
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

A victory that is offset by staggering losses, as in The campaign was so divisive that even though he won the election it was a Pyrrhic victory . This expression alludes to Kind Pyrrhus of Epirus, who defeated the Romans at Asculum in b.c. 279, but lost his best officers and many of his troops. Pyrrhus then said: “Another such victory and we are lost.” In English the term was first recorded (used figuratively) in 1879.
Discover More

Example Sentences

“We didn’t come all this way—this audience didn’t put their shoulder to the wheel—to have the victory become a Pyrrhic victory by putting someone like Thune in,” Winters said.

From Slate

Its pyrrhic victory on the eastern front was fundamental, like the western front Allied assault that followed D-Day, in bringing Nazi Germany to its knees.

From BBC

In what amounted to a Pyrrhic victory for the Dodgers, Barnes threw out De La Cruz attempting to steal second base to end the seventh inning, only the fifth time this season the Reds speedster has been caught stealing.

Moreover, such an outcome may instead fuel a type of neofascist Lost Cause narrative, which in the end will be a Pyrrhic victory for America’s pro-democracy forces.

From Salon

Unfortunately, the proponents’ pursuit for greater numbers in these local races will result in a Pyrrhic victory.

Advertisement

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement