dilemma - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
dilemma (plural dilemmas or dilemmata)
- A circumstance in which a choice must be made between two or more alternatives that seem equally undesirable.
- ✤ Synonyms: see Thesaurus: dilemma
- ✤ A strong dilemma in a desperate case!/To act with infamy, or quit the place.1
- Any difficult circumstance or problem.
- ✤ Synonyms: bind, fix, pickle, problem, quandary; see also Thesaurus: difficult situation
- (logic) A type of syllogism of the form “if A is true then B is true; if C is true then D is true; either A or C is true; therefore either B or D is true”.
- (rhetoric) Offering to an opponent a choice between two (equally unfavorable) alternatives.
Etymology
First attested 1523, from Late Latin dilemma, from Ancient Greek δίλημμα (dílēmma, “ambiguous proposition”), from δι- (di-, “having two of”) + λῆμμα (lêmma, “premise, proposition”), equivalent to di- + lemma.
Pronunciation
- enPR: dī-lĕmʹə or dĭ-lĕmʹə
- (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA: /daɪˈlɛmə/, /dɪˈlɛmə/
- Audio (California): 🔊
- (Australia) IPA: /dɑeˈlemə/, /dɪˈlemə/
- (New Zealand) IPA: /daɪˈlemə/, /dəˈlemə/
- Rhymes: -ɛmə
Printed 2026-09-04.
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Footnotes
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1731, Jonathan Swift, An Epistle to Mr. Gay: ↩