Damocles
noun
Dam·o·cles
ˈda-mə-ˌklēz 
: a courtier of ancient Syracuse held to have been seated at a banquet beneath a sword hung by a single hair
Examples of Damocles in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In Operation Damocles, Mossad went after the German scientists with letter bombs and threatened their families.
—
Dan De Luce, NBC News, 20 Sep. 2024
Nadya Tolokonnikova, at the OK Linz museum, beneath her Damocles Sword.
—Corey Seymour, Vogue, 20 June 2024
Extending that pause would remove a Sword of Damocles hanging over Laguna Honda and allow the facility to focus exclusively on working to regain its certification, Roland Pickens, interim chief executive, told the city’s health commission on Tuesday.
—Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Jan. 2023
And the likelihood of a lengthy suspension by the NFL hangs over Mr. Watson and the Browns like the Sword of Damocles.
—Michael Peregrine, Forbes, 28 June 2022
In the opening pages of The Darkroom of Damocles, also translated by Ina Rilke, a boy named Henri Osewoudt comes home from school one day to learn that his mother has murdered his father and been committed to a mental asylum.
—Francine Prose, Harper's Magazine, 15 June 2022
Unlike the mythical weapon—suspended by a single hair of a horse’s tail—that the Sicilian King Dionysius II used to teach the envious Damocles about the perils of power, Sutherland’s headset was bolted tightly to his laboratory’s ceiling.
—Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American, 8 Dec. 2015
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of
Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback
about these examples.
Dan De Luce, NBC News, 20 Sep. 2024
Nadya Tolokonnikova, at the OK Linz museum, beneath her Damocles Sword.
—Corey Seymour, Vogue, 20 June 2024
Extending that pause would remove a Sword of Damocles hanging over Laguna Honda and allow the facility to focus exclusively on working to regain its certification, Roland Pickens, interim chief executive, told the city’s health commission on Tuesday.
—Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Jan. 2023
And the likelihood of a lengthy suspension by the NFL hangs over Mr. Watson and the Browns like the Sword of Damocles.
—Michael Peregrine, Forbes, 28 June 2022
In the opening pages of The Darkroom of Damocles, also translated by Ina Rilke, a boy named Henri Osewoudt comes home from school one day to learn that his mother has murdered his father and been committed to a mental asylum.
—Francine Prose, Harper's Magazine, 15 June 2022
Unlike the mythical weapon—suspended by a single hair of a horse’s tail—that the Sicilian King Dionysius II used to teach the envious Damocles about the perils of power, Sutherland’s headset was bolted tightly to his laboratory’s ceiling.
—Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American, 8 Dec. 2015
Dictionary Entries Near Damocles
Cite this Entry
“Damocles.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Damocles. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share