double-edged sword

名词 n.
中文释义

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. A benefit that is also a liability, especially a benefit that carries some significant but not-so-obvious cost or risk. figuratively
    — 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.”
  2. A neutral principle that has applications that may be either positive (beneficial) or negative (adverse) to one's own interests. figuratively
    — The unintended ambiguity of the phrase was a double-edged sword: it spurred litigation but it also ended up shielding good-faith actors.
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see double-edged, sword.

词形变化

double-edged swords plural

词源

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.
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