hydra-headed
Americanadjective
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containing many problems, difficulties, or obstacles.
-
having many branches, divisions, facets, etc.
Etymology
Origin of hydra-headed
First recorded in 1590–1600
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.
Lieberman’s bill fused those two into a new agency, Customs and Border Protection—with Immigration and Customs Enforcement created as an initially small internal police force—then jammed them all into the hydra-headed monstrosity that is DHS.
From Slate • Jan. 15, 2026
But the protest movement's hydra-headed strength has also proved to be a weakness: it has been largely leaderless with no charismatic figure emerging for people to unite behind.
From BBC • Jul. 12, 2022
Whatever we’re supposed to call this increasingly hydra-headed Disney content behemoth, it has rarely ventured in a direction this playful, this ghoulish, this exuberantly grotesque.
From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2022
The youth movement is often described as “leaderless” when it is actually hydra-headed, with new leaders emerging with every arrest.
From Reuters • Dec. 18, 2020
Another hydra-headed monster which ate into the very vitals of the commonwealth was the provision for the clergy, known as the Clergy Reserves.
From The Story of the Upper Canada Rebellion by Dent, John Charles
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.
