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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
Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Dec. 2024
The show featured 23,000 individual pyrotechnic shots and more than 13,000 aerial shells.
—Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY, 31 Dec. 2024
Richard Sutcliffe, The Athletic, 22 Jan. 2025
The pyrotechnics team loads enough fireworks to celebrate five or six touchdowns per game, said Vaill.
—Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 17 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for pyrotechnic 
Dictionary Entries Near pyrotechnic
Cite this Entry
“Pyrotechnic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pyrotechnic. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
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