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• sword of Damocles
  sword of Damocles

  noun

  any situation threatening imminent harm or disaster.
• Sword of Damocles
  Sword of Damocles

  noun

  a closely impending disaster

sword of Damocles

American  

noun

1. any situation threatening imminent harm or disaster.

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Sword of Damocles British  

noun

1. a closely impending disaster

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sword of Damocles Idioms  

1. Also, Damocles' sword. Impending disaster, as in The likelihood of lay-offs has been a sword of Damocles over the department for months. This expression alludes to the legend of Damocles, a servile courtier to King Dionysius I of Syracuse. The king, weary of Damocles' obsequious flattery, invited him to a banquet and seated him under a sword hung by a single hair, so as to point out to him the precariousness of his position. The idiom was first recorded in 1747. The same story gave rise to the expression hang by a thread.

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Etymology

Origin of sword of Damocles

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sword of Damocles Sword of Damocles

The sword of Damocles didn’t descend, but its glint lit every meeting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

But even then, the rare earths situation could stay unresolved, “hanging like a sword of Damocles over many companies’ heads,” Gave says.

From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2025

She described it as a "sword of Damocles over my head for three long years".

From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2024

The board should recognize the influence of the sword of Damocles hanging over shareholder heads: the outcome of any stockholder vote could well be seriously distorted by Musk’s looming threat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2024

The second week of January 1890, Jo writes to her sister, “It’s like a sword of Damocles forever hanging over our heads—I never really have a moment’s peace.”

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

Companies hope the trade disputes will settle down, but tariffs hang over the economy like the Sword of Damocles.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 16, 2025

"And now there is a real Sword of Damocles hanging over the head of Perrier."

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2025

After more than a year, the Maryland bar dismissed the charges; the D.C. bar charges remained a Sword of Damocles over my head for another eight years, rendering me both unemployed and unemployable.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2025

“This was kind of like the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head.”

From Washington Post ● Jun. 18, 2020

Sir Arthur Pinero's play, The Profligate, was written at a time when it was the fashion to give each act a sub-title; and one of its acts is headed "The Sword of Damocles."

From Play-Making A Manual of Craftsmanship by William Archer