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You've read about funeral pyres, and you may even have survived a pyromaniac ("insane fire-starting") stage in your youth, so you might have guessed that pyr means "fire" in Greek. Pyrotechnic refers literally to fireworks, but always seems to be used for something else—something just as exciting, explosive, dazzling, sparkling, or brilliant. The performances of sports stars and dancers are often described as pyrotechnic, and a critic may describe the pyrotechnics of a rock guitarist's licks or a film's camerawork. A pyrotechnic performance is always impressive, but the word occasionally suggests something more like "flashy" or "flamboyant".
Examples of pyrotechnic in a Sentence
Rong-Gong Lin Ii, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2025
Other fresh ideas to be rolled out have included the ref cams, new line-up formations, and stadium show elements such as pyrotechnic displays, which are set to develop further throughout the tournament stages.
—Eduardo Tansley, New York Times, 18 June 2025
Carolyn Stein, Chicago Tribune, 27 May 2025
The suspect’s father told us his son had a childhood obsession with pyrotechnics
In an interview with my colleague Jenny Jarvie, the suspect’s estranged father, Richard Bartkus, said the boy, then 9, set his family’s Yucca Valley home on fire.
—Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for pyrotechnic
Cite this Entry
“Pyrotechnic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pyrotechnic. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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