# a two-edged sword

idiom · CEFR C1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/a-two-edged-sword
Updated: 2026-07-29

## Meaning

Something that has both beneficial and harmful consequences.

## Examples

- Fame is a two-edged sword.
- The new technology is a two-edged sword, saving hours of work while quietly putting people out of jobs.
- Her bluntness was a two-edged sword: it won her the trust of clients who were tired of being flattered, and just as reliably it made enemies of colleagues who would have preferred a gentler kind of honesty.

## Origin

The image runs through scripture. Hebrews 4:12 describes the word of God as living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, and Proverbs 5:4 warns that the end of a seductive path is sharp as a two-edged sword — cutting in more than one direction. A blade honed on both edges cuts on the forward stroke and the backstroke alike, making it more effective but also more dangerous to the person wielding it, and both scriptural uses trade on that double capacity to help and to harm. In English a two-edged sword — often a double-edged sword — is anything whose strength is also its liability, a course of action or quality that works in your favour and against you at the same time.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.