Pyrrhic

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈpɪ.ɹɪk/

Definitions

  1. A victory obtained through sacrifices so severe that winning brings no real benefit or advantage to the victor
  2. An outcome where success is technically attained but the expenses, casualties, or losses make the achievement feel fundamentally hollow and regrettable
  3. A win achieved at such great cost that it negates any true gain from winning

Etymology: After defeating the Romans at Asculum in 279 BC, King Pyrrhus of Epirus was congratulated on his victory. According to Plutarch, he answered that one more such victory over the Romans would utterly ruin him. He had come to Italy in 280 BC at the invitation of Tarentum, a Greek city at war with Rome, bringing a professional army and war elephants the Romans had never faced. He won at Heraclea that year and at Asculum the next. But each victory killed officers and veterans he could not replace, while Rome simply raised fresh legions. He eventually abandoned Italy, and in 272 BC he died in a street battle in Argos, reportedly stunned by a roof tile that a woman threw down on him. English took his name as an adjective, and "Pyrrhic victory" was established by the late nineteenth century. It means a win that costs so much it amounts to a loss. The word had an older twin. Since the sixteenth century English had used "pyrrhic" for the armed war dance of ancient Greece, the "pyrrhikhe," whose dancers leapt and dodged in imitation of combat. Through Latin "pyrrhichius," the dance's quick rhythm also gave its name to a metrical foot of two short syllables. Ancient writers offered different inventors for the dance, and one of them was Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, who was also called Pyrrhus. The kings of Epirus claimed descent from him. The dance and the king lead back to the same root. Both come from Greek "pyrrhos," meaning flame-colored or red, which comes from "pyr," fire. Pyrrhus was a name for a redhead, so the costly victory and the war dance are both, at bottom, named for the color of fire.

Synonyms: costly, ruinous

Antonyms: beneficial, favorable