dilemma
dilemmas
A dilemma is a tough choice. When you're in a difficult situation and each option looks equally bad, you're in a dilemma.
Dilemma is from a Greek for "double proposition." It was originally a technical term of logic, but we use it now for any time you have a problem with no satisfactory solution. If you're at the mall choosing between red or blue socks, that's not really a dilemma. But if you have to choose whether to save your cat or your dog from a burning building, that's an awful dilemma.
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state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options
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synonyms:
quandary
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types:
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double bind
(psychology) an unresolvable dilemma; situation in which a person receives contradictory messages from a person who is very powerful
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type of:
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perplexity
trouble or confusion resulting from complexity
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double bind
Vocabulary lists containing dilemma
After his grandmother buys him a lawnmower for his birthday, a 12-year-old boy turns his mowing earnings into a corporate empire and sponsorship of a heavyweight boxer named Joey Pow.
Following the death of their parents, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are sent to live with Count Olaf, who plots to steal their inheritance.
Eighth-grader Kevin can't help telling lies but when the lies pile up and get him into big trouble, he has to find a way to make things right — and end his lying streak.
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