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Pandora's box
noun
- a source of extensive but unforeseen troubles or problems:
The senate investigation turned out to be a Pandora's box for the administration.
Pandora's box
- In classical mythology , a box that Zeus gave to Pandora, the first woman, with strict instructions that she not open it. Pandora's curiosity soon got the better of her, and she opened the box. All the evils and miseries of the world flew out to afflict mankind.
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Notes
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Word History and Origins
Origin of Pandora's box1
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Idioms and Phrases
A source of unforeseen trouble, as in Revising the tax code is opening a Pandora's box . This equivalent for the modern can of worms comes from the Greek legend in which Pandora, entrusted with a box containing the world's ills, is overcome by curiosity and opens it, thereby releasing them. [Late 1500s]Discover More
Example Sentences
I am sure Pandoras box didnt have any more troubles locked inside of it than this one has.
It is a Pandoras box whose best treasure is only a compensation.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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