When:
Lookups spiked on January 3, 2013.
Why:
The influential economist Nouriel Roubini called the last-minute fiscal cliff agreement "a Pyrrhic victory for Mr. Obama." Roubini believes that the deal is only a temporary solution to the debt crisis.
Pyrrhic means "achieved at excessive cost" or "costly to the point of negating or outweighing expected benefits."
It comes from Pyrrhus, the name of a king of part of ancient Greece who won a battle against the Romans in 279 B.C., but only after sustaining heavy losses. After the battle, supposedly, he declared, "One more such victory and we are lost."
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
