Damocles

[ dam-uh-kleez ]

noun

1. a flatterer who, having extolled the happiness of Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, was seated at a banquet with a sword suspended over his head by a single hair to show him the perilous nature of that happiness.

Damocles

/ ˈdæməˌkliːz /

noun

1. classical myth a sycophant forced by Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, to sit under a sword suspended by a hair to demonstrate that being a king was not the happy state Damocles had said it was See also Sword of Damocles

Derived Forms

• ˌDamoˈclean, adjective

Other Words From

• Dam·o·cle·an [dam-, uh, -, klee, -, uh, n], adjective

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. sword of Damocles, any situation threatening imminent harm or disaster.

Example Sentences

It hung a sword of Damocles over laws requiring political campaigns to disclose their donors.

From Vox

Those threats have served as a sort of twin sword of Damocles, forcing studios, networks and agencies to do the right thing after decades of denying there was a problem.

From Washington Post

Then as now, the majority of Americans had little interest in examining the nuclear sword of Damocles their fear had wrought.

From The Daily Beast

Of course, if we can mix our classical references, Russia has its Sword of Damocles to cut this Gordian Knot.

From The Daily Beast

Did he understand that he would now have to live with a sword—not of Damocles but of polonium—hanging over his head?

From The Daily Beast

The United States insists that the option of force—a sword of Damocles—be included in any Security Council resolution.

From The Daily Beast

But that particular sword of Damocles has floated off into the ether.

From The Daily Beast

The sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, to make them remember.

From Project Gutenberg

And Damocles knew the sword was there, or there'd have been no point in it.

From Project Gutenberg

The fabled sword of Damocles hangs suspended over my head, still it may never fall.

From Project Gutenberg

He alludes to the story of Damocles, a flatterer of one of those Sicilian tyrants, namely Dionysius.

From Project Gutenberg

The Damocles' sword of defiant authority was suspended over the head of every Russian writer.

From Project Gutenberg