1. victories that come at such a great cost that they are tantamount to defeat
2. metrical feet consisting of two unstressed syllables
Usage: poetry; prosody

Examples

• The general’s pyrrhics left his army too weakened to continue the campaign.
• Many corporate takeovers turn out to be pyrrhics that drain resources.
• The lawsuit victory was one of those pyrrhics that cost more than it was worth.
• In analyzing the poem’s meter, she identified several pyrrhics in the second stanza.
• The poet used pyrrhics to create a flowing, unstressed rhythm.
• Students of prosody must learn to recognize pyrrhics alongside other metrical feet.