| 词组 | pyrrhic victory |
| 释义 | pyrrhic victory Your dictionary will tell you what pyrrhic victory means: "a victory won at excessive cost." Bryson 1984 tells us that the phrase does not mean "a hollow victory." But when you stop to think about it, a victory won at excessive cost would indeed turn out to be hollow. More important, perhaps, pyrrhic is a word to keep an eye on, for it is in the process of changing its behavior in the language to some extent. We find it quite frequently now as an independent adjective used after a linking verb: • But the victory ... proves to be somewhat pyrrhic: in the process of winning the court battle, the teacher suffers "unrelenting torment" at the hands of colleagues and neighbors —Alan M. Dershowitz, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 28 Nov. 1976 • But their victory may be only Pyrrhic if they do not push on —Jerome Karabel, Change, May 1972 • Even the victory of Kennedy supporters ... may have been Pyrrhic; for it intensified the hostility of the coalition and offended many of the Congressional elders —Tom Wicker, N.Y. Times, 7 Nov. 1976 It is even being attached to other nouns: • It would be a Pyrrhic gesture to summarily put down Anton Chekhov because he comes from a distant time and place —Ed Bullins, N.Y. Times, 4 Feb. 1973 • ... the French breeders' pride has the Pyrrhic satisfaction that more and more of the best French products are being bought by foreigners —G. Y. Dryan-sky, Town & Country, July 1984 This instability may point to new senses emerging. |
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