sword of Damocles

noun phrase

sword of Dam·​o·​cles -ˈda-mə-ˌklēz How to pronounce sword of Damocles (audio)
often capitalized S
: an impending disaster

Examples of sword of Damocles in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web By that point, the TV veteran had been unemployed for more than six months, and his children’s private school tuitions were looming over him like the sword of Damocles. Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2024 But their unhappiness with the IDF’s current mandate to recruit ultra-Orthodox men remains a sword of Damocles. Mick Krever, CNN, 27 Sep. 2024 Then there’s the data center sword of Damocles that skewered Alphabet. Jim Cramer, CNBC, 29 July 2024 Bottom line: the Supreme Court has allowed the Louisiana's new congressional map to go into effect, but with a sword of Damocles over its head, namely the constitutional challenge to the Voting Rights Act. Nina Totenberg, NPR, 15 May 2024 Effectively, the potential for the problem of space junk to cascade out of control is a sword of Damocles hanging over the entire space industry. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 10 Jan. 2023 Armenia fears this sword of Damocles dangling over its head. Olesya Vartanyan, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2023 And above us, dangling from the ceiling like the sword of Damocles, is a plastic model of the Hindenburg. Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 20 July 2023 The regulators have preferred to treat WOTUS as a sword of Damocles rather than a law, instructing field agents to make case-by-case decisions pursuant to voluminous manuals, often with major regional variations. The Editors, National Review, 26 May 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sword of Damocles.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1820, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of sword of Damocles was in 1820

Dictionary Entries Near sword of Damocles

Cite this Entry

“Sword of Damocles.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sword%20of%20Damocles. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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