sword of Damocles

Constant threat; imminent peril: "the Latin American debt, overhanging American banks like the sword of Damocles" (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).

[After Damocles.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sword of Damocles

(Classical Myth & Legend) a closely impending disaster

[see Damocles]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sword′ of Dam′ocles

any situation threatening imminent harm or disaster.

[1810–20]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

sword of Damocles - a constant and imminent peril; "the possibility hangs over their heads like the sword of Damocles"

endangerment, hazard, jeopardy, peril, risk - a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune; "drinking alcohol is a health hazard"

sword of Damocles

noun

One regarded as an imminent danger:

menace, threat.

Idiom: clear and present danger.

Translations

Damoklesschwert

épée de Damoclès

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

"Let our negotiators get on with their work without that sword of Damocles over their necks and without an election, without an election," he urged.

British PM: Britain would leave EU 31st Oct. anyway

WHAT do The Sword of Damocles, Morton Heilig's Sensorama, and the 18th century apparatus La Nature a Coup d'OEIL all have in common?

New reality is virtually upon us..

Otherwise, this will only discourage investors and existing power distributors, even with their current franchise, to develop and/or expand power projects, as the SPSB privilege would virtually be like a sword of Damocles, ready to pierce the competition.

SPSB franchise to stifle the competition?

Now with another review, which may well be a final one, coming up in October, the sword of Damocles thus hangs over Pakistan.

Going against non-state actor

She said that fear of postponement of elections was hanging on her hear like the proverbial 'Sword of Damocles' which was also disturbing her campaign.

Electioneering yet to gain momentum in Khyber

Using an engaging dual first-person narrative, Freestone skilfully crafts the exhilarating tale of Ash, a Prince's bodyguard with a deadly secret hanging like the sword of Damocles over his head and Rakel, a tenacious desert girl with a precious knowledge of scents, as they embark on a perilous quest to seek an antidote for a lethal poison and to stop the Rot before it spreads across the five provinces.

The Darkest Bloom (Shadowscent)

Coun Liam O'Rourke said the 'sword of Damocles' was hanging over Heywood while it waited for the company to make up its mind.

Plea to Post Office over branch move

She doesn't shy away from depicting the darker parts of that experience, from closing herself off to her mother at first as a defense mechanism to navigating college and romance with a sword of Damocles always present.

The Goodbye Diaries

After briefly detailing some of the high points of the domestic season, Booth continues: "All the while The Hundred hung over the English game like the Sword of Damocles, suspended only by the conviction of a suited few.

Wisden: New format worse than Brexit

In spite of all the changes the Sword of Damocles is hanging over their head in the shape of contract, they have been working relentlessly so that their services could be appreciated.

Meritocracy as if heinous crime

However, the sword of Damocles, or rather President Donald Trump, still hangs over US-China trade relations.

OPEC+ necessary for stability in oil markets