dilemma

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noun

Definition of DILEMMA

1

a situation in which one has to choose between two or more equally unsatisfactory choices <faced with a dilemma whether to spend the night out in the cold or go inside and face his father>

Synonyms catch-22, double bind, quandary

Related Words deadlock, impasse, quagmire, stalemate, standoff; knot, problem; bind, difficulty, fix, hole, jam, pickle, pinch, plight, predicament, spot

Near Antonyms breeze, cinch, duck soup, snap

2

a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation from which there is no easy escape <with home prices in a free fall, sellers were in a terrible dilemma>

Synonyms bind, box, catch-22, corner, dilemma, fix, hole, impasse, jackpot [chiefly West], jam, mire, pickle, quagmire, rabbit hole, rattrap, spot, sticky wicket, swamp

Related Words difficulty, node; hot water, soup; pinch, plight, quandary, scrape, trouble; deadlock, halt, logjam, stalemate, standstill; clutch, crisis, crossroad, emergency, exigency, juncture, strait