Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1800-1900
Origin: Pyrrhus (312?-272BC), Greek king whose army defeated the Romans but had very many killed and wounded

Pyrrhic victory

 noun
     
Pyr‧rhic vic‧to‧ry [countable]
a victory in which the person who wins suffers so much that the victory was hardly worth winning
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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