'Pyrrhic' definitions:
Definition of 'pyrrhic'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Of or relating to a war dance of ancient Greece; "pyrrhic dance movements"
adjective
Of or relating to or containing a metrical foot of two unstressed syllables; "pyrrhic verses"
adjective
Of or relating to or resembling Pyrrhus or his exploits (especially his sustaining staggering losses in order to defeat the Romans); "a Pyrrhic victory"
noun
A metrical unit with unstressed-unstressed syllables [syn: pyrrhic, dibrach]
noun
An ancient Greek dance imitating the motions of warfare
Definition of 'Pyrrhic'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Pros.) Of or pertaining to a pyrrhic, or to pyrrhics; containing pyrrhic; as, a pyrrhic verse. [1913 Webster]
- Pyrrhic victory [From Pyrrhus, king of Epirus.], (a) a victory in which the winning side sustains very heavy losses. (b) any act supposedly benefitting the actor, for which the costs outweight the benefits. [PJC]
Definition of 'Pyrrhic'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 2. [L. pyrrhichius (sc. pes), Gr. ? (sc. ?): cf. F. pyrrhique, masc.] (Pros.) A foot consisting of two short syllables. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'pyrrhic'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- accent,
- accentuation,
- Alexandrine,
- 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