dragon's teeth
Britishplural noun
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informal conical or wedge-shaped concrete antitank obstacles protruding from the ground in rows: used in World War II
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to take some action that is intended to prevent strife or trouble but that actually brings it about
Etymology
Origin of dragon's teeth
sense 2 from the story of Cadmus
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Both are protected by miles of deep anti-tank ditches filled with razor wire and concrete anti-tank obstacles known as "dragon's teeth".
From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026
Long ditches lined with coils of razor wire and concrete pyramids known as dragon’s teeth await Russia’s increasingly rare armored attacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
It’s a lot simpler than Poole’s alternative: In The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, he writes, the monsters are “hatched from the dragon’s teeth America sowed in its own soil.”
From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2024
Oleksander, an engineer with one company involved in that work, said crews have been digging anti-tank ditches, laying dragon’s teeth and building a network of trenches to keep Russian forces at bay.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
Over the field he drove them, pressing the plow down firmly and casting the dragon’s teeth into the furrows.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
