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Words / P / General

pyrrhic

adjective/ˈpɪrɪk/

C1CEFR level
63/100Rarity: rare
FormalRegister

Describing a victory won at so great a cost that it is tantamount to defeat.

Taking the ridge proved a pyrrhic victory, for half the battalion lay dead upon it.

Similar: costly, hollow, self-defeating

Origin: From Pyrrhus, a king whose costly victories over Rome gave rise to the phrase.

Topic: victory in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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