1. a small freshwater animal with a tube-shaped body and tentacles around its mouth
Usage: biology
2. a water monster in Greek mythology with many heads that grew back when cut off
Usage: mythology
3. a problem or situation that becomes worse when you try to deal with it
Usage: figurative

Examples

• The hydra is a simple organism that can regenerate lost body parts.
• Hercules fought the nine-headed hydra as one of his twelve labors.
• When two heads were cut off, the hydra would grow back three.
• The corruption scandal became a hydra that consumed the entire administration.
• Scientists study the hydra to understand how animals regenerate tissue.
• The mythical hydra lived in the swamps of Lerna.
• Trying to fix the budget became a financial hydra for the committee.