Damocles

[ dam-uh-kleez ]

/ ˈdæm əˌkliz /

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noun

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.

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Idioms about Damocles

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

OTHER WORDS FROM Damocles

Dam·o·cle·an

[dam-uh-klee-uhn], /ˌdæm əˈkli ən/, adjective

Words nearby Damocles

damn straight, Damn the torpedoes, damn well, damn with faint praise, damnyankee, Damocles, Damocles, sword of, Damodar, damoiselle, Damon, Damon and Pythias

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Damocles in a sentence

It hung a sword of Damocles over laws requiring political campaigns to disclose their donors.
3 winners and 3 losers from the just-completed Supreme Court term|Ian Millhiser|July 2, 2021|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.
Oscar nominees are more diverse than ever. And that raises more questions about numbers and nuance.|Ann Hornaday|March 19, 2021|Washington Post
Then as now, the majority of Americans had little interest in examining the nuclear sword of Damocles their fear had wrought.
How a War-Weary Vet Created ‘The Twilight Zone’|Rich Goldstein|November 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Of course, if we can mix our classical references, Russia has its Sword of Damocles to cut this Gordian Knot.
Ravenous Russia? Thirsty Crimea.|Oleg Shynkarenko, Will Cathcart|May 4, 2014|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?
The Mystery of Mikhail Khodorkovsky|Bernard-Henri Lévy|January 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The United States insists that the option of force—a sword of Damocles—be included in any Security Council resolution.
Did Obama Just Change His Luck on Syria?|Michael Tomasky|September 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But that particular sword of Damocles has floated off into the ether.
Obama’s Social Security Gambit|Michael Tomasky|April 9, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, to make them remember.
Space Prison|Tom Godwin
And Damocles knew the sword was there, or there'd have been no point in it.
Tristram of Blent|Anthony Hope
The fabled sword of Damocles hangs suspended over my head, still it may never fall.
A Dreadful Temptation|Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller
He alludes to the story of Damocles, a flatterer of one of those Sicilian tyrants, namely Dionysius.
Dryden's Works (13 of 18): Translations; Pastorals|John Dryden
The Damocles' sword of defiant authority was suspended over the head of every Russian writer.
Contemporary Russian Novelists|Serge Persky

British Dictionary definitions for Damocles

Damocles

/ (ˈdæməˌkliːz) /

noun

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 wasSee also Sword of Damocles

Derived forms of Damocles

Damoclean, adjective

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