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

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

He said many veterans now effectively had a "sword of Damocles hanging over them again".

From BBC • Jul. 15, 2025

Hackford recalls feeling the sword of Damocles hanging over his head when he phoned King, who replied, “I wish I’d thought of that.”

From Salon • Mar. 23, 2025

They add, “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

We know what sword of Damocles hangs over his head—an electric razor for the military school crewcut Mundín would have to get.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez