Pandora's box
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But its long tail also shows that once the Pandora’s box of conspiracy has been opened, it has the power to destroy lives.
They have opened Pandora’s box in the Middle East.
From Salon
“I think it has a huge potential to open up a Pandora’s box inside of Iran, where the opposition rises up momentarily, but the regime still has a lot of power,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a former Iran team chief at the Pentagon during the Obama administration now at advocacy group J Street.
It builds on our partnership with Taiwan and reinforces the conclusion reached by a 2005 African Union fact-finding mission, which determined that Somaliland’s case should be assessed “from an objective historical viewpoint and a moral angle vis-à-vis the aspirations of the people” and not “linked to the notion of ‘opening a Pandora’s Box’ ” in Africa.
“Once you open up a Pandora’s box of regime change, either organic from the inside or instigated from the outside, you’re creating a huge amount of uncertainty at a moment when that is the last thing they want.”
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.