Pyrrhic victory

A victory that is not worth achieving because of the excessive toll it takes on the victor. Winning the lawsuit was a Pyrrhic victory, since it cost us everything we had.

See also: pyrrhic, victory

Pyrrhic victory

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.

See also: pyrrhic, victory

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

a Pyrrhic victory

If you describe a victory as a Pyrrhic victory, you mean that although someone has won or gained something, they have also lost something which was worth even more. If gun-control advocates achieve their goals by threats, rather than through properly enacted legislation, it will be a Pyrrhic victory. Note: This expression comes from the victory of King Pyrrhus over the Romans, in which much of King Pyrrhus's army was killed.

See also: pyrrhic, victory

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

Pyrrhic victory

a victory gained at too great a cost.

Pyrrhus was a king of Epirus, who defeated the Romans at Asculum in 279 bc , but in doing so sustained heavy losses and lost his finest troops.

See also: pyrrhic, victory

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

a ˌPyrrhic ˈvictory

a victory which is achieved at too high a price and therefore not worth having: It was a Pyrrhic victory. They won the strike but then most of them lost their jobs.This idiom refers to Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, who in 279BC defeated the Romans but lost all his best officers and men.

See also: pyrrhic, victory

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

Pyrrhic victory

A victory that is worse for the winners than the losers. The term refers to the victory of King Pyrrhus of Epirus over the Romans at Asculum in 279 b.c. In this first major battle between the Greeks and the Romans, Pyrrhus lost his best officers and many of his troops. Ever since the term Pyrrhic victory has meant a victory so costly that it counts as a defeat.

See also: pyrrhic, victory

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References in periodicals archive

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Najib's strategists won Umno poll, Kit Siang claims

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We had an interesting exchange of ideas on how to sustain the momentum of the pyrrhic victory over the IS-inspired militants in the war in Marawi.

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When the flag is finally lowered in Brussels the silent majority will have won a pyrrhic victory only.

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I request all protagonists to exercise utmost caution, as whichever side wins will have a pyrrhic victory. The politics of revenge will return (pun intended) with vengeance.

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BJP pulled it off by the skin of the teeth, but it was a pyrrhic victory as a resurgent Congress under a rejuvenated Rahul Gandhi put the ruling party on notice: 'No match is over until the last ball is bowled and no election is decided until the last ballot is counted.

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Unless substantial changes are made, passing the current widely unpopular tax reforms will bode for unprecedented voter backlash in upcoming elections, likely proving its passage to be a Pyrrhic victory

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The referendum held in Turkey on April 16 to replace the parliamentary form of government with a presidential one, led to a 'yes' vote for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but it was termed as a pyrrhic victory.

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Has he ever heard of a Pyrrhic victory? So one example will suffice.

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In the second half of the book Coble turns to succeeding generations' memories of the war, starting in chapter 5 with the pyrrhic victory that left Japan defeated, the Nationalists eviscerated, and China ruined.

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The ex-editor in chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper, Can Dundar, told a German paper that the referendum result would be a Pyrrhic victory that signalled "the beginning of the end of the Erdogan era." He thought it inconceivable that the margin of victory would be so small despite the media almost exclusively backing the yes-vote.

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