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DAMOCLES
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
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)
Classified under:
Instance hypernyms:
courtier (an attendant at the court of a sovereign)
