Pyrrhic victory

English

WOTD – 5 July 2007, 5 July 2008

 Pyrrhic victory on Wikipedia

Etymology

After Greek king Pyrrhus of Epirus, who suffered heavy losses while defeating the Romans.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpɪɹ.ɪk ˈvɪk.t(ə)ɹ.i/

• Audio (US):

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Noun

Pyrrhic victory (plural Pyrrhic victories)

1. A very costly victory, wherein the considerable losses outweigh the gain, so as to render the struggle not worth the cost.

   Synonym: (proscribed) hollow victory

   • 2005 October 6, The Guardian‎:

     Tough pensions regulation designed to protect employees in final-salary occupational schemes will prove a pyrrhic victory for unions and the government, a report warned yesterday.

   • 2002 November 21, Amos Elon, “Israelis & Palestinians: What Went Wrong?”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:

     We now know that it [the Six-Day War] was a Pyrrhic victory.

Translations

a costly victory

Armenian: պյուռոսյան հաղթանակ (hy) (pyuṙosyan haġtʻanak) Azerbaijani: Pirr qələbəsi Bulgarian: Пи́рова побе́да f (Pírova pobéda) Chinese: Cantonese: 慘勝 / 惨胜 (caam2 sing3) Mandarin: 皮洛士式勝利 / 皮洛士式胜利 (Píluòshì shì shènglì), 慘勝 / 惨胜 (zh) (cǎnshèng) Czech: Pyrrhovo vítězství (cs) n Danish: pyrrhussejr (da) c Dutch: pyrrusoverwinning (nl) f Esperanto: Pirha venko Finnish: Pyrrhoksen voitto French: victoire à la Pyrrhus (fr) f German: Pyrrhussieg (de) m Greek: Πύρρειος νίκη f (Pýrreios níki) Hungarian: pirruszi győzelem Indonesian: kemenangan piris, kemenangan Piris Italian: vittoria di Pirro f Japanese: ピュロスの勝利 (Pyurosu no shōri) Latin: victoria Pyrrhica f Macedonian: Пирова победа f (Pirova pobeda) Norwegian: Bokmål: pyrrhosseier (no) m Nynorsk: pyrrhossiger m Polish: pyrrusowe zwycięstwo (pl) n Portuguese: vitória de Pirro f, vitória pírrica f, vitória pirrónica f (rare, Portugal), vitória pirrônica f (rare, Brazil) Romanian: victorie à la Pirus f Russian: Пи́ррова побе́да (ru) f (Pírrova pobéda) Slovak: Pyrrhovo víťazstvo n Spanish: victoria pírrica (es) f Swedish: pyrrhusseger (sv) c

See also

• Cadmean victory
• monkey's paw