Word.ws English Dictionary

Pandora's box

Pandora's box proper noun: a box given to Pandora by Zeus, whose instructions stated that it must not be opened, and were then ignored, leading to disastrous consequences.

Proper noun

Pandora's box

  1. (Greek) A box given to Pandora by Zeus, whose instructions stated that it must not be opened, and were then ignored, leading to disastrous consequences.

Noun

Pandora's box (plural Pandora's boxes)

  1. (idiomatic) A source of unforeseen trouble; especially, one whose effects cannot be reversed.
    • There was an evil in Pandora's box
      Beyond all other ones, yet it came forth
      In guise so lovely, that men crowded round
      And sought it as the dearest of all treasure.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Morality of Diamonds”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 16
    • The first thing it did was to spawn a whole Pandora's box of DNA viruses—smallpox, influenza and so on.1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, pages 396–397
    Synonyms:
    Pandora's jar

Pandora's box meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi and Indonesian

Pandora's box in Hindi

a source of unforeseen trouble
पैन्डोरा का बॉक्स painḍorā kā bŏks

Pandora's box in Tamil

a source of unforeseen trouble
பண்டோராவின் பெட்டி paṇṭōrāviṉ peṭṭi

Pandora's box in Punjabi

a source of unforeseen trouble
ਪੰਡੋਰਾ ਦਾ ਡੱਬਾ paṇḍorā dā ḍabbā

Pandora's box in Indonesian

a source of unforeseen trouble
kotak Pandora
More languagesFewer languages
Pandora's box in Vietnamese
chiếc hộp Pandora

Synonyms of Pandora's box

Forms of Pandora's box

pluralPandora's boxes

Questions about Pandora's box

What does Pandora's box mean?
Pandora's box means a box given to Pandora by Zeus, whose instructions stated that it must not be opened, and were then ignored, leading to disastrous consequences.
What is Pandora's box in Hindi?
Pandora's box in Hindi is पैन्डोरा का बॉक्स (painḍorā kā bŏks). See Pandora's box meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is Pandora's box?
Pandora's box can be a proper noun or a noun.

Words near Pandora's box in the dictionary

  1. Pandolfi
  2. Pandolfis
  3. pandoor
  4. pandoors
  5. pandora
  6. Pandora's box
  7. Pandora's boxes
  8. Pandora's jar
  9. Pandora's jars
  10. Pandoran
  11. pandoras

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Pandora's box (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Pandora's box.wav.

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