DOUBLE BIND Synonyms: 24 Similar and Opposite Words

double bind

noun

as in dilemma

a situation in which one has to choose between two or more equally unsatisfactory choices the double bind faced by every politician: responding to scurrilous charges only gives them unwarranted publicity; not responding to such charges is often interpreted as an admission of guilt

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Recent Examples of double bind And when that pressure collided with the 43-day shutdown—which paused SNAP for millions before benefits were restored—some households faced a double bind: food money late, car payment due. —

Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Nov. 2025 This double bind can be traumatic. —

Hind Haddad, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2025 During the Biden Presidency, the government faced a double bind with Venezuelans: Their country, run by a vicious dictator and beset by a humanitarian crisis, had for years refused to accept deportations from the U.S. —

Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025 That leaves the consumer in a double bind: still resilient, but increasingly forced to be discerning, particularly in a world where prices perniciously creep up. —

Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for double bind

Recent Examples of Synonyms for double bind

Noun

Perhaps every story in which the characters are fundamentally unable to change their lives is subject to this same dilemma.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 June 2026
Casa Amor, as a concept, is traditionally structured like a prisoner’s dilemma, with neither the main villa nor Casa Islanders aware of what their counterparts are doing while they’re separated.

— Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 22 June 2026