Pyrrhic
adjective /ˈpɪrɪk/ — Won at too great a cost to count as victory.
Definition
Of a victory: won at too great a cost to have been worth winning; relating to Pyrrhus of Epirus.
Beyond the definition
Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated the Romans at Asculum in 279 BC — but lost so many men that he famously said: 'Another such victory and we are lost.' A Pyrrhic victory is the bitterest kind: you technically win, but the cost means you've also lost. The word names the specific futility of certain kinds of success.
Origin & history
From Pyrrhus, King of Epirus (318–272 BC), whose costly victories over Rome in the Pyrrhic War gave rise to the phrase. After Asculum, he reportedly said: 'One more such victory and we are utterly undone.'
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
Winning the lawsuit was a Pyrrhic victory — the legal fees exceeded the settlement by a third.
She got the promotion she'd fought for, but the team she'd alienated to get it meant it was Pyrrhic.
The negotiation ended in a Pyrrhic compromise: both sides got something, neither got enough.
Synonyms
hollow victory, costly win, too-expensive success
Antonyms
clean victory, decisive win
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Guardian at a complex maze
An adult stands before a stone maze with a towering, dark guardian figure standing at the center of the entrance.
If the wanderer defeats the guardian but is too exhausted to finish the maze, it becomes a pyrrhic victory. It illustrates the idea of winning a struggle at a cost so high that the achievement itself is diminished and ultimately hollow.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration