[
US
/ˈdæməˌkɫiz/
]
NOUN
- the Greek courtier to Dionysius the Elder who (according to legend) was condemned to sit under a naked sword that was suspended by a hair in order to demonstrate to him that being a king was not the happy state Damocles had said it was (4th century BC)
How To Use Damocles In A Sentence
- The possibility of losing her job hung over her like a sword of Damocles all last year.
- On the 28th, there was a gut-busting editorial, headlined "Farewell, Farewell!", that led with something or other by the Damoclesian sword having fallen and moved on to Jubal Early and the British invasion of 1814.. 50 years ago, the Senators left and arrived
- The zones earmarked for growth are poised like three swords of Damocles around London's periphery, each one centred on its own source of sustenance: a dirty great road.
- The man's knowing complicity becomes his undoing and his and his loyal but conscience-stricken wife's world is impacted in ways that, even for one who believes that conscience is a Damoclesian sword hanging over the heads of the those who propagate the type of moral corruption epitomized by the character of "Kenneth Hoyle," rarely if ever hears about nowadays. Steven Weber: Thanks, Art!
- The Day Job hangs over me like the sword of chuffing Damocles.
- The treaty hung like a sword of Damocles over French politics.
- Carol spotted Damocles up ahead of her on the opposite side of the street. THE LAST TEMPTATION
- The day following the Court read an opinion which is a model of ambiguous and equivocal statement, but the purport was fairly clear: for the moment the Court would not interfere, and the prosecution was free to proceed as it thought best, with the warning that the Damocles sword of "irrelevancy" was suspended over its head by the barest thread and might fall at any moment. John Marshall and the Constitution; a chronicle of the Supreme court
- Government threats to cut the budget by 50% are hanging over the Opera House like a sword of Damocles.
- The possibility of losing her job hung over her like a sword of Damocles all last year.