dilemma

Pronunciation

• /daɪˈlɛmə/, /dɪˈlɛmə/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin dilemma,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek δίλημμα (dílēmma, “double proposition”),^[2][3][6][4] formed from Ancient Greek δι- (di-, “twice, two”) + λῆμμα (lêmma, “assumption, premise”) (di- and lemma).^[4][7][5][8] The Greek noun literally meant something received or taken for granted,^[6][9] and is related to Ancient Greek λαμβάνω (lambánō, “to take”).^[3][2][10] Merriam-Webster thinks the Greek noun is probably a back-formation from the adjective διλήμματος (dilḗmmatos, “involving two assumptions”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

In rhetoric, a form of argument that leaves an opponent a choice between two alternatives, each unfavourable to him: 1523.^{[4][2][3][11]}

Semantic evolution

The word began as a technical term of rhetoric and logic,^[12][13] and the popular sense, a choice between two equally unwelcome courses, or simply a difficult position, developed from 1590, in Robert Greene.^[4][3][13] The two alternatives were traditionally called its "horns", after the Latin term used by scholars, which gave the phrase on the horns of a dilemma;^[12][14] Weekley explains that they catch a person on either side.^[14] Johnson (1755) gave both the logical sense, "an argument equally conclusive by contrary suppositions", and the general one.^[15] Etymonline notes that strictly the word should be used only when someone must choose between two unfavourable alternatives,^[3] but the OED records the loose use for more than two choices,^[4] and Dictionary.com observes that today a person in a dilemma may face more than two.^[10] A verb dilemma, to put in a dilemma, appears in 1656.^[4]

Timeline

• 1523 – a form of argument in rhetoric.^[4][2]
• 1590 – a choice between unwelcome alternatives.^[4][3]
• 1656 – verb: to place in a dilemma.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A situation in which a person must choose between two (or more) alternatives that are equally unpleasant: She faced the dilemma of staying in a job she disliked or moving away from her family.
2. Loosely, any difficult problem that seems to have no satisfactory solution.
3. (logic) A form of argument with two conditional premises and a premise that one of their conditions is true.

Word family

• dilemmatic
• dilemmatically

Related words

• lemma
• trilemma
• quandary
• predicament

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.