dilemma
pronunciation
How to pronounce dilemma in British English:
UK [dɪˈlemə]
How to pronounce dilemma in American English:
US [dɪˈlemə]
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- Noun:
- state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options
Word Origin
- dilemma
- dilemma: [16] Dilemma was originally a technical term in rhetoric, denoting a form of argument in which one’s opponent is faced with a choice of two unfavourable alternatives. It comes via Latin dilemma from Greek dilēmma, a compound formed from di- ‘two’ and lēmma ‘proposition, premise’. (Lēmma itself, which English acquired in the 16th century, came ultimately from *lab-, the base of Greek lambánein ‘talk’.) The ‘looser’ general sense ‘choice between unpleasant alternatives’ developed in the late 16th century.
- dilemma (n.)
- 1520s, from Late Latin dilemma, from Greek dilemma "double proposition," a technical term in rhetoric, from di- "two" + lemma "premise, anything received or taken," from root of lambanein "to take" (see analemma). It should be used only of situations where someone is forced to choose between two alternatives, both unfavorable to him. But even logicians disagree on whether certain situations are dilemmas or mere syllogisms.
Example
- 1. But labour itself cannot evade the dilemma .
- 2. These findings present a dilemma for america 's policymakers .
- 3. During the asian financial crisis policymakers faced a dilemma .
- 4. This leaves investors with a dilemma .
- 5. Thus the great nuclear dilemma .