double-edged sword
double-edged sword noun: a benefit that is also a liability, especially a benefit that carries some significant but not-so-obvious cost or risk.
Noun
double-edged sword (plural double-edged swords)
- A benefit that is also a liability, especially a benefit that carries some significant but not-so-obvious cost or risk.
- He added: “Facebook is a double-edged sword. You don’t want to support it, but you have to use it in order to reach a large audience.”2020 June 23, Tiffany Hsu, “Ad Boycott of Facebook Keeps Growing”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 15 Mar 2021
- The double-edged sword of movie stardom remains the same as it ever was: when a persona is so fixed in the public mind, it's what people love you for, and it becomes difficult to deviate from.2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC, archived from the original on 01 Jan 2026
- Synonyms:
- dual-edged sword, two-edged sword
- A neutral principle that has applications that may be either positive (beneficial) or negative (adverse) to one's own interests.
- The unintended ambiguity of the phrase was a double-edged sword: it spurred litigation but it also ended up shielding good-faith actors.
- The phrase was, and remains, a double-edged sword: a testament to the hard-working and hard-living citizens of the Crescent City and an indicator of the “ah, whatever” shrug hanging over its corrupt politics, its ramshackle infrastructure and its belief that partying trumps all.2015 August 12, Todd Leopold, “Return to the ‘City That Care Forgot’”, in CNN, archived from the original on 02 Jan 2022
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see double-edged, sword.
double-edged sword meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Arabic
double-edged sword in Hindi
- double-edged sword
- दोधारा dodhārā
double-edged sword in Tamil
- இருபுறமும் கூருள்ள கத்தி, இருமுனைக் கத்தி
double-edged sword in Urdu
- idiomatic
- دو دھاری تلوار do dhārī talvār
double-edged sword in Arabic
- idiomatic
- سَيْفٌ ذُو حَدَّيْنِ sayfun ḏū ḥaddayni
More languagesFewer languages
- double-edged sword in Malay
- serampang dua mata
- double-edged sword in Indonesian
- pedang bermata dua
- double-edged sword in Persian
- شمشیر دو لبه šamšir-e do labe
- double-edged sword in Thai
- ดาบสองคม
Examples of double-edged sword in a sentence
- Of course, social media is a double-edged sword, and the opportunity for passengers to communicate their feelings to media teams is not always a happy one.2021 July 28, Ben Jones, “When BR got cracking after withdrawal of 'Blue Trains'”, in RAIL, number 936, page 32:
- “Nuclear weapons are becoming part of the international conversation again and that’s a double-edged sword.2023 July 21, Rachel Hall, quoting Sebastian Brixey-Williams, “Anti-nuclear groups welcome Oppenheimer film but say it fails to depict true...
Synonyms of double-edged sword
Forms of double-edged sword
| plural | double-edged swords |
|---|
Origin of double-edged sword
From the notion that if two sides of the same blade are sharp, it cuts both ways. The metaphor may have originated from the Arabic expression سَيْفٌ ذُو حَدَّيْنِ (sayfun ḏū ḥaddayni, “double-edged sword”) or from the Hebrew expression חֶרֶב פִּיפִיּוֹת (ẖérev pifiyót, “double-mouthed sword”). The metaphor is first attested in English in the 15th century.
Questions about double-edged sword
- What does double-edged sword mean?
- Double-edged sword means a benefit that is also a liability, especially a benefit that carries some significant but not-so-obvious cost or risk.
- What is double-edged sword in Hindi?
- Double-edged sword in Hindi is दोधारा (dodhārā). See Double-edged sword meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use double-edged sword in a sentence?
- Of course, social media is a double-edged sword, and the opportunity for passengers to communicate their feelings to media teams is not always a happy one.
- What part of speech is double-edged sword?
- Double-edged sword is a noun.
- What is the plural of double-edged sword?
- The plural of double-edged sword is double-edged swords.
Words near double-edged sword in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: double-edged sword (page history and authors); दोधारा (Hindi) (page history and authors); double-edged sword (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-double-edged sword.ogg.
Cite this entry: “double-edged sword.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/double-edged_sword. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.