Pandora's box

American  

noun

1. a source of extensive but unforeseen troubles or problems.

   The senate investigation turned out to be a Pandora's box for the administration.

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Pandora's box Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, a box that Zeus gave to Pandora, the first woman, with strict instructions that she not open it. Pandora's curiosity soon got the better of her, and she opened the box. All the evils and miseries of the world flew out to afflict mankind.

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Pandora's box Idioms  

1. A source of unforeseen trouble, as in Revising the tax code is opening a Pandora's box. This equivalent for the modern can of worms comes from the Greek legend in which Pandora, entrusted with a box containing the world's ills, is overcome by curiosity and opens it, thereby releasing them. [Late 1500s]

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Discover More

To “open a Pandora's box” is to create an uncontrollable situation that will cause great grief.

Etymology

Origin of Pandora's box

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

“I think it has a huge potential to open up a Pandora’s box inside of Iran, where the opposition rises up momentarily, but the regime still has a lot of power,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a former Iran team chief at the Pentagon during the Obama administration now at advocacy group J Street.

From The Wall Street Journal

It builds on our partnership with Taiwan and reinforces the conclusion reached by a 2005 African Union fact-finding mission, which determined that Somaliland’s case should be assessed “from an objective historical viewpoint and a moral angle vis-à-vis the aspirations of the people” and not “linked to the notion of ‘opening a Pandora’s Box’ ” in Africa.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Once you open up a Pandora’s box of regime change, either organic from the inside or instigated from the outside, you’re creating a huge amount of uncertainty at a moment when that is the last thing they want.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“I would not be surprised if the Americans tell Venezuela to continue giving oil to Cuba, so as not to open another Pandora’s box,” said Piñon, who calculates oil shipments to the island using reports from services that track tanker movements.

From The Wall Street Journal

Not thankful: All the hand-wringing and apocalyptic soothsaying about how artificial intelligence is a Pandora’s box that will steal our jobs and ultimately spell our doom.

From The Wall Street Journal