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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
Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 5 Apr. 2024
Following the April accident, Disneyland suspended the use of pyrotechnic effects at select parks around the world.
—Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 26 July 2023
In the original series, Colt moonlighted as a bounty hunter, employing filmmaking tricks to capture his targets — a fun if contrived excuse for stunt driving and pyrotechnic sequences.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 13 Mar. 2024
The crowd packed into the field saw a mix of moments, with some running from angry fire-spitting bulls, like a pyrotechnic version of the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain.
—Fernanda Pesce and Alexis Triboulard, Quartz, 9 Mar. 2024
The company expanded its line of products to include rigging equipment, stunt flying suits, pyrotechnic devices, glass breakers and devices for industrial use before merging with Roger George Special Effects at the start of this year.
—Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2024
Disneyland's Maleficent dragon made headlines this past April after an apparent malfunction caused the 45-foot-tall structure to burst into flames mid-show, prompting Disney to temporarily suspend similar pyrotechnic effects at all of its parks around the world.
—Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 23 Sep. 2023
In California, Disney’s cleaning crews, food service workers, pyrotechnic specialists and security staff are already unionized.
—Amy Taxin, Quartz, 13 Feb. 2024
Those unionized jobs include everything from retail and food service workers to security guards, hair and make-up artists and pyrotechnic workers.
—Chris Isidore, CNN, 13 Feb. 2024
Howard Murphy, Rolling Stone, 18 Mar. 2024
But by dispensing with his postmodern pyrotechnics, Auster has produced a more grounded and consequently more believable work about a memorable life — and a life of memories.
—Malcolm Forbes, Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2023
Pop-punk band Fall Out Boy brought personality and pyrotechnics to a nearly bursting Golden 1 Center on Sunday night.
—Nathaniel Levine, Sacramento Bee, 4 Mar. 2024
During the evenings, there could be nighttime flyovers with parachute jumps and pyrotechnics.
—Michael Slaten, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024
The moving lights, visual effects, and pyrotechnics only add to the magical ambience (pun intended).
—Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 12 Feb. 2024
For any keyboard warriors still insisting that Lipa can’t dance, the singer put criticisms to bed with her athletic performance: hanging off a rotating cage and sliding across the floor against a dizzying backdrop of mirrors and pyrotechnics.
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—Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 5 Feb. 2024
These needed to be kept at a distance from exploding pyrotechnics and angled away from the blare of the stadium’s public-address system.
—Jody Rosen, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2023
There are lights, and pyrotechnics, and extravagance.
—Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 13 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pyrotechnic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near pyrotechnic
Cite this Entry
“Pyrotechnic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pyrotechnic. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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