Pandora's box
noun
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The god Prometheus stole fire from heaven to give to the human race, which originally consisted only of men. To punish humanity, the other gods created the first woman, the beautiful Pandora. As a gift, Zeus gave her a box, which she was told never to open. However, as soon as he was out of sight she took off the lid, and out swarmed all the troubles of the world, never to be recaptured. Only Hope was left in the box, stuck under the lid. Anything that looks ordinary but may produce unpredictable harmful results can thus be called a Pandora's box.
Word History
from the box, sent by the gods to Pandora, which she was forbidden to open and which loosed a swarm of evils upon humankind when she opened it out of curiosity
1579, in the meaning defined above
pandora's box
noun
Synonyms & Similar Words
- hair shirt
- trial
- rub
- discomfort
- thorn
- fleabite
- nuisance
- pinprick
- headache
- insult
- irk
- inconvenience
- ruffle
- irritant
- affront
- worry
- bugbear
- upset
- exasperation
- pest
- frustration
- bother
- aggravation
- peeve
- vexation
- predicament
- cross
- aggro
- plague
- annoyance
- offense
- menace
- burden
- offence
- hassle
- sore
- albatross
- millstone
- curse
- anxiety
- botheration
- plight
- tribulation
- trouble
- affliction
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- joy
- pleasure
- delight
- homokaryosis
- homolog
- homologate
- homologated
- homologates
- homologating
- homologation
- homologations
- homological
- homologically
- homologies
- homologise
- homologised
- homologiser
- homologisers
- homologises
- homologising
- homologize
- homologized
- homologizer
- homologizers
- homologizes
- homologizing
- homologoumena
- homologous