Pyrrhic victory

English

WOTD – 5 July 2007

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

Pyrrhic victory (plural Pyrrhic victories)

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

a costly victory

Armenian: պյուռոսյան հաղթանակ (hy) (pyuṙosyan hałtʿanak)
Azerbaijani: Pirr qələbəsi
Bulgarian: Пи́рова побе́да f (Pírova pobéda)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 皮洛士式勝利／皮洛士式胜利 (Píluòshì shì shènglì)
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