Charybdis
3
9.9
- proper noun
- /kəˈrɪb.dɪs/
- Literature
:
Caribdis
- The situation does not make me think so much of Ulysses, who merely had to avoid Scylla and Charybdis, but of someone who risks being gobbled up by any of hundreds of whirlpools.
- Scylla and Charybdis
Examples
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Ulysses sailed between the whirlpool Charybdis... and the island monster, Scylla.
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Greek mythology warned ancient sailors to avoid the dangers of two monsters named Scylla and Charybdis.
Blog text (18) -
In Greek mythology, she worked with Charybdis, a whirlpool, to trap sailors.
Academic text (2007) -
The term 'steering between Scylla and Charybdis' has long been used to encourage people to avoid the danger of extremes.
Blog text (18) -
Thus, they sometimes felt caught in a Scylla-and-Charybdis-like dilemma, in which the additional responsibility of having to judge their students' work only made the dilemma more difficult to navigate.
Academic text (2004) -
The Scylla and Charybdis that we oscillate between would be more accurately termed collectivism and individualism.
Blog text (24) -
The Republicans have found themselves between the Scylla of the spend-nothing libertarians and the Charybdis of the restrict-everything evangelicals.
Blog text (6) -
Kuyper, like Leo XIII, worked and lived in late 19th-century Western Europe and sought a middle way between the Scylla of state socialism and the Charybdis of autonomous individualism.
Academic text (2008) -
Knowledge of female monstrosity and of ways to overcome, or at least avoid, its force enters into the domain of Circe's expertise; she understands the dangers of Scylla and Charybdis, just as she is party to the sirens and their wiles.
Academic text (1997) -
The sailors feared being pulled into Charybdis, a monstrous whirlpool known to destroy ships.
Idioms
Surface Forms
Etymology
Charybdis comes from an old Greek name that meant 'to swallow' or 'to suck in'. That's why Charybdis is a dangerous whirlpool that can 'swallow' ships.