First recorded in 1810–20
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
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
They aren't terrorists and the default sword of Damocles still hovers.
From Salon ● May 31, 2023
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
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
Bar charges remained a Sword of Damocles over my head for ten years before they were also dismissed.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2025
Because that conviction hangs over her head like the Sword of Damocles — making it hard to get on with her life and always, somehow, bringing more instability and pain to her, and to Summer.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2022
But meanwhile, the old Sword of Damocles hung by a thinner hair than ever before.
From The Planet Strappers by Gallun, Raymond Z.
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.
