1. achieved at too great a cost to have been worthwhile
Usage: often used to describe victories

1. a metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables
Usage: poetry; prosody

Examples

• The general’s pyrrhic victory left his army too weakened to continue fighting.
• Winning the lawsuit was pyrrhic since the legal fees exceeded the settlement.
• The company’s pyrrhic expansion into new markets ultimately led to bankruptcy.
• His pyrrhic success in the debate cost him several friendships.
• The poem’s rhythm included several pyrrhic feet between the stressed syllables.
• Students of poetry learn to identify pyrrhic meters in classical verse.