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Damocles

see synonyms of damocles

Noun

1. damocles

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)

WordNet Lexical Database for English. Princeton University. 2010.

Damocles

see synonyms of damocles
noun
classical mythology
a sycophant forced by Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, to sit under a sword suspended by a hair to demonstrate that being a king was not the happy state Damocles had said it was
See also Sword of Damocles

Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

Damocles

see synonyms of damocles
noun
Classical Mythology
a courtier of ancient Syracuse who was given a lesson in the perils to a ruler's life when the king seated him at a feast under a sword hanging by a single hair

Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

Damocles

see synonyms of damocles
Greek courtier to Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse, who according to legend was forced to sit at a banquet table under a sword suspended by a single hair to demonstrate the precariousness of a king's fortunes.

The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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