pyrrhic

• Although the 15,000 US troops may ostensibly defeat the relatively small number of 'insurgents' in the city, the victory will be pyrrhic: the damage to the city and civilian deaths necessary to secure the city will mobilize more Iraqis against the occupation; and the Sunni population of Iraq, who make up at least twenty percent of the population, will become further alienated. —  newmatilda.com - Comments
• The victory achieved in Leegin may turn out to be pyrrhic, though, if courts adopt overly prohibitory approaches to evaluating particular RPM agreements. —  TRUTH ON THE MARKET
• Looked at through other lenses, however, the victory was pyrrhic, meaning that the legitimacy losses, collateral and direct, were substantial enough to lead one to wonder whether the victory was cost effective. —  TrinidadExpress Today's News
• Unless these challenges are addressed, political victories will prove pyrrhic-yielding modest results, sowing disillusionment, and fostering the perception that choice was just one more educational fad. —  AMERICAN.COM -- A Magazine of Ideas, Online
• If the disclosures the FASB will now require really provide useful information, this could be a pyrrhic victory for the banks, much as the win on stock option accounting might have been. —  Floyd Norris

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