Adjacent Words

Pyrrhic definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PYRRHIC, n. [L., Gr., a nimble dance.]
1. In poetry, a foot consisting of two short syllables.
2. An ancient military dance.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of or relating to a war dance of ancient Greece; "pyrrhic dance movements"
2: of or relating to or containing a metrical foot of two unstressed syllables; "pyrrhic verses"
3: of or relating to or resembling Pyrrhus or his exploits (especially his sustaining staggering losses in order to defeat the Romans); "a Pyrrhic victory" n
1: a metrical unit with unstressed-unstressed syllables [syn: pyrrhic, dibrach]
2: an ancient Greek dance imitating the motions of warfare

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin pyrrhichius, from Greek (pous) pyrrhichios, from pyrrhich?, a kind of dance Date: 1626 a metrical foot consisting of two short or unaccented syllables

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Pyrrhus, king of Epirus who sustained heavy losses in defeating the Romans Date: 1885 achieved at excessive cost <a Pyrrhic victory>; also costly to the point of negating or outweighing expected benefits <a great but Pyrrhic act of ingenuity>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. adj. (of a victory) won at too great a cost to be of use to the victor. Etymology: Pyrrhus of Epirus, who defeated the Romans at Asculum in 279 BC, but sustained heavy losses 2. n. & adj. --n. a metrical foot of two short or unaccented syllables. --adj. written in or based on pyrrhics. Etymology: L pyrrhichius f. Gk purrhikhios (pous) pyrrhic (foot)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pyrrhic Pyr"rhic, a. [L. pyrrhichius, Gr. ? belonging to the ? (sc. ?) a kind of war dance.] 1. Of or pertaining to an ancient Greek martial dance. `` ye have the pyrrhic dance as yet.'' --Byron. 2. (Pros.) Of or pertaining to a pyrrhic, or to pyrrhics; containing pyrrhic; as, a pyrrhic verse.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pyrrhic Pyr"rhic, n. 1. [Gr. ?: cf. F. pyrrhique, fem.] An ancient Greek martial dance, to the accompaniment of the flute, its time being very quick. 2. [L. pyrrhichius (sc. pes), Gr. ? (sc. ?): cf. F. pyrrhique, masc.] (Pros.) A foot consisting of two short syllables.

Moby Thesaurus

Alexandrine, accent, accentuation, amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, antispastic, arsis, bacchius, beat, cadence, cadenced, caesura, catalexis, chloriamb, chloriambus, colon, counterpoint, cretic, dactyl, dactylic, dactylic hexameter, diaeresis, dimeter, dipody, dochmiac, elegiac, elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter, emphasis, epitrite, feminine caesura, foot, heptameter, heptapody, heroic couplet, hexameter, hexapody, iamb, iambic, iambic pentameter, ictus, ionic, jingle, lilt, masculine caesura, measure, measured, meter, metric, metrical accent, metrical foot, metrical group, metrical unit, metron, molossus, mora, movement, numbers, paeon, pentameter, pentapody, period, proceleusmatic, prosodic, quantity, rhythm, rhythmic, scanning, spondaic, spondee, sprung rhythm, stress, swing, syzygy, tetrameter, tetrapody, tetraseme, thesis, tribrach, trimeter, tripody, triseme, trochaic, trochee