# sow dragon's teeth

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/sow-dragons-teeth
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To perform an action that inadvertently leads to trouble.

## Examples

- By lying to your friends, you sow dragon's teeth for the future.
- The politician's decision to ignore the protesters only served to sow dragon's teeth, leading to much larger riots later that month.
- The company sowed dragon's teeth when it cut safety budgets, as the resulting accidents eventually cost them millions in legal fees and lost trust.
- By dismissing the valid concerns of his employees, the manager sowed dragon's teeth, ensuring that a minor disagreement would eventually escalate into a full-scale strike.

## Origin

Derives from the ancient Greek myth of Jason, who sowed the teeth of a dragon into a field. The teeth sprouted into an army of fully armed warriors, known in Greek as the Σπαρτοί (Spartoí), or "sown men." The phrase traces to the Ancient Greek ὀδόντες του δρᾰ́κοντος (odóntes tou drắkontos), meaning "dragon's teeth," and incorporates the verb σπείρω (speírō), to sow. The myth describes a harvest of immediate and violent conflict produced from the planting of a single antagonistic element.

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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.