double-edged sword

短语

双刃剑

发音

AU

词形变化

double-edged swords 复数 double-edged swords

别名

double edge sword

释义与例句

n.
  1. 1.

    A benefit that is also a liability, or (a benefit) that carries some significant but not-so-obvious cost or risk.

    比喻
  2. 2.

    A neutral principle that has applications that may be either positive (beneficial) or negative (adverse) to one's own interests.

    比喻

    The unintended ambiguity of the phrase was a double-edged sword: it spurred litigation but it also ended up shielding good-faith actors.

  3. 3.

    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see double-edged, sword.

    双刃剑

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 חרב פיפיות (“double-mouthed sword”). The metaphor is first attested in English in the 15th century.

来源：wiktionary