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(See also Pyrrhic below)

A word that is underused because ‘Pyrrhic’ is overused, ‘cadmean’ is exclusively seen in connection with a victory, for it means a win achieved at great loss to oneself and one’s companions or entourage. Cadmus, the mythical founder of the city of Thebes, needed water for his new metropolis, and sent his followers and friends to fetch the waters from a spring. Unfortunately for them, the spring was guarded by a water dragon who made mincemeat of Cadmus’s people, but not the leader himself. Having killed the monster, only then did Cadmus find out it was a pet dragon of the god Ares, who duly made his life hell on earth thereafter. Winning isn’t everything, especially when you’re up against the vengeful denizens of Olympus.