Advertisement

Advertisement

sword of Damocles

noun

  1. any situation threatening imminent harm or disaster.


Sword of Damocles

noun

  1. a closely impending disaster
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of sword of Damocles1

First recorded in 1810–20
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of sword of Damocles1

see Damocles
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Also, Damocles' sword . Impending disaster, as in The likelihood of lay-offs has been a sword of Damocles over the department for months . This expression alludes to the legend of Damocles, a servile courtier to King Dionysius I of Syracuse. The king, weary of Damocles' obsequious flattery, invited him to a banquet and seated him under a sword hung by a single hair, so as to point out to him the precariousness of his position. The idiom was first recorded in 1747. The same story gave rise to the expression hang by a thread .

Advertisement

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement